Ge Issued Cross Products

[sgath92]

My grandfather worked for General Electric for over fifty years, and at some point during that time the company started issuing Cross products to people for things like performance or time with the company. I don't know when they started doing this, but at one time or another my grandfather had brought home a ballpoint pen & mechanical pencil set, as well a rollerball pen. I am guessing all three are from the "Century Classic." I picked up another identical pen/pencil set from eBay.

 

As to be expected with 30-50 year old pens the ink was either used up or dried out so I got some refills from Staples. Refill 8513 fit in & so far is working ok in the ballpoint pen. I still need to find an eraser for the pencils, since the originals have shriveled up & turned hard. Does anyone know what Cross part #s would work?

 

The Rollerball pen has been far more difficult to get working. From reading their website it appears that the 8523 refill should fit it, so I bought one only to find the neck feeding the tip was either the wrong size or the wrong shape. So no matter what kind of force I use, the tip of the pen cartage will not poke through the end of the pen casing. The ink cartage that was still inside it has no part # on it, but says "FINE POINT" so I have no idea what the original PN would have been.

 

So I spent some time looking at Amazon product reviews and the commentors there claim a few different things and I would like any feedback on how true they are:

1- That the refills are now all made in China, and all have quality control problems [like intermittantly failing to let out ink, ink leakage, ink clotting, not lasting long, etc.]

2- That when pen manufacturing was offshored to China they changed the rollerball cartage design, so the Chinese-made rollerball cartages will only fit in the Chinese rollerball pens, not the "obsolete" USA ones.

3- That the replacement erasers do not erase well.

 

Does anyone know what ink refill I should order to get the rollerball pen operating again? Or have a good source for the erasers? Even if it means using another company's refills or a generic I would like to get them all working again.

 

Also, does anyone know what other products Cross made for GE to hand out to its employees?

[max dog]

So I spent some time looking at Amazon product reviews and the commentors there claim a few different things and I would like any feedback on how true they are:

1- That the refills are now all made in China, and all have quality control problems [like intermittantly failing to let out ink, ink leakage, ink clotting, not lasting long, etc.]

2- That when pen manufacturing was offshored to China they changed the rollerball cartage design, so the Chinese-made rollerball cartages will only fit in the Chinese rollerball pens, not the "obsolete" USA ones.

3- That the replacement erasers do not erase well.

 

The current roller ball refills fit my USA made Classic Century roller balls just fine. The current ballpoint refills in over a dozen Cross pens I have work fine, no leaking or clogging. Since Cross moved production to China there is a lot of resentment, and you will find on places like Amazon a lot of untrue or exaggerated claims about how crappy Chinese made Cross pens/parts are today.

If you go to the Cross website, you should find the refill part numbers you need. For the eraser you will likely need the green ones. The newer 0.7mm pencils use smaller yellow ones which wont fit yours which I presume is the 0.5mm pencil which uses green erasers.

Edited May 29, 2014 by max dog

[sgath92]

Which roller ball refills do you buy, do you have a part#?

 

The chrome "classic century" Rollerball pen they list on the website says it uses an 8910 refill, but the picture does not look like my rollerball pen so I do wonder if the classic century currently in production is in fact different from the old ones.

 

Top-view here is what is shown on the website, bottom-view is what I need a refill for.

[max dog]

You want the regular Selectip gel rollerball refil part numbers 8521 or 8523 (black or blue).

Cross recently introduced a slimmer Spire and new Classic Century that use the "slim" rollerball refill. The rest of the Cross models, ie Century II, Townsend, Apogee etc use the regular size refills.

The original Classic Century roller ball (first generation) use the regular rollerball refill too.

I forgot about the new slim Spire and Classic Century.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2014 by max dog

[sgath92]

The 8523 is what I bought that does not fit. The "neck" that feeds the ink from the resevour to the tip is either a different shape or a different size and it does not fit through to poke out the business-end of the casing. I actually bent up the neck of the 8523 trying to force it through but even hitting the end of it with a hammer did not force it in because the size or shape is that far off.

[sgath92]

Here are the two cartages side by side [original left, 8523 on right]

 

Everything from the tip-end to the start of the resovour housing are different.

[max dog]

Your pen must be quite old. I wasn't aware that Cross changed their rollerball refills some time along the line. Maybe check with Cross repair to see if a new rollerball point for the previous version Classic Century would fit your pen.

 

[sgath92]

I don't know when GE started handing out Cross products, but if my grandfather was with the company for over 50 years & retired in the early 90s this could be a first year production run for all I know. Its definitely some variant of the century because it matches the pencil/pen set, although the texture lines are faded.

 

I've got an email in for their repair-unit but have not yet heard anything back from them. Don't know if I should just fill out the online repair order, pay the $10, mail it out, and see what happens. Or if I should wait and try to get a hold of them somehow.

 

I have half the mind to borrow a grinder or a dremmel and see if I can take some thickness off the 8523 so it will physically side in correctly, but I have visions of ink going everywhere [i was actually surprised the resovour did not pop with me hitting the end of it with a hammer!].

[RMN]

I do not have any "Century" rollerballs (actually I dislike rollerballs) so I'm not speaking from experience, but the Cross website lists the 8910 as the refill for the narrow pens like the Spire and the Classic Century.

 

Maybe that would fit?

 

by the way, is there any marking left on the OLD refill you have?

 

D.ick

[sgath92]

The only thing the old refill says is "FINE POINT" above the company name. Below that it gives the company name & address, but that's it. No part# or anything like that on it

 

The body of the resevour on the 8523 seems physically fits ok, its just the neck to tip section that is too different to slide in properly.

 

The comments in the amazon listing for the 8910 say it does not fit the corss century [do they mean the "classic century" or "century II"? who knows]:

 

 

...This is for the 8910-1 which will NOT fit a Cross Century. The picture is the 0910 which I thought I was getting. Please fix picture.

UPDATE: Looked closer and the packaging shows 8910, the contents are these http://www.amazon.com/Cross-Black-Rolling-Refill-Selectip/dp/B003THNSZ0 which are too big to fit. Come on Cross and Amazon, where's the quality control.

 

I guess I could go buy one of every refill model, though with my kind of luck I'd spend $30-40 to find none of them fit.

[blINK]

1-800-282-7677 is the number for Cross. They are INCREDIBLY helpful. Call and explain the situation. They may have some options for you. It certainly looks like a Selectip. Maybe they have a new front section that will fit the body of the pen and allow the current refills to work.

 

No more hammers!

 

ETA: I know you mentioned you had an email in to them. It takes a day or two for email. Calling is much faster and more efficient. I fount this out when I needed to buy an extra nib.

Edited May 29, 2014 by blINK

[WriteAway]

Regarding the rollerball issue, maybe this thread can start you in the right direction:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/219175-cross-century-rollerball-new-refill-wont-fit/?hl=%2Bold+%2Bcross+%2Bcentury+%2Brollerball+%2Bfit

 

If not, more search of this forum may have some kind of information to help with your issue.

 

WriteAway

(Hubert)

[sgath92]

Interesting, that thread pretty much confirms what the amazon reviewers say. When they switched the refill production to China they stopped supporting the older products so if they work they work, and if they don't then "oh well."

 

So the choice is:

1- Use a jumbo ballpoint refill instead of a rollerball refill [their website lists these as 8562]

2- Pay $10 to have them modify the pen by replacing what I am assuming is the tip-end of the casing so the Chinese rollerball refills will work

3- Pay $10 to have them warranty it by replacing it with a Chinese model.

 

I would just get the ballpoint refill then, except the picture of it on their website shows one with the same Chinese/modern neck-tip on it, so I'd be back to the same problem.

 

To anyone who has paid to have them warranty a pen, does this service come with an ink cartage?

 

Looks like I am stuck paying $10 plus postage to mail it off to be modified

[max dog]

I stand corrected. I guess sometimes things like this come up just to show you, you dont know everything.

 

I hope Cross will solve your problem with the GE/Cross Rollerball. If the new refill size changed making your old Cross obsolete, this is somethihg Cross should resolve for you without you having to pay for it in the spirit of their lifetime warranty. They have been good taking care of my pen issues when I sent them my pens for repair, especially when they had some sentimental value. Good luck with it.

 

 

[CaptainBA]

I wonder how hard that rollerball is to find. I've worked for GE in the past and this would be a cool piece to have.

[sgath92]

Well I finally heard back from them. They said to order a repair for it & have them see what they can do with it.

 

So now I am out:

$3 refill that did not fit

$10 to have them try to fix it

$10 more in shipping costs to send it there [incl. insurance].

 

All to use a pen that had nothing wrong with it.

 

Now to hurry up & wait until their repair department figures out what to do.

[welch]

I worked for GE from 1984 - 1999. Our office-supplies catalog had a special GE section with gifts for customers.

 

- The first two caps have the "old" logo, which we called "the meatball". In 1987, The Company hired a design agency to modernize the logo, the business cards, the building signs, and to make the component names consistent. The designers reduced the swirl in the logo, and reduced the curlicues in the 'G' and 'E'.

 

- We had a different catalog with items that marked time of service...Cross pens sets, but a large and flimsy logo made to snap off easily.

 

- You have some special pens! I have a battleship gray ballpoint / pencil set, a black set from 1986, and a gold set, plus a black select-tip.

 

- The select-tip (roller-ball / fiber-tip / ballpoint) is from about 1989. New logo. All current refills fit...even the new ones from Cross China.

 

- I've never replaced an eraser, but they look to be the same size as Sheaffer erasers. Pendemonium sells them. The pre-1990 pencils were .9mm. About 1990, GE began to order .5mm pencils with the ballpoints.

 

- The Cross ballpoint tends to seize up if you don't use it for ten or fifteen years. I find that a shot of WD-40 works.

 

- Cross select-tip so old that later refills don't fit? Before my time...

 

Oh: the proper name has been "GE" since 1987. They used "General Electric" or "General [meatball GE] Electric" before, but the designers felt that "General Electric" made people think of light bulbs, fuses and other old-timey stuff. Just as "International Business Machines" suggested typewriters and punch-cards. Contracts and tax documents and other documents use the legal company name, "General Electric".

[sgath92]

 

"General [meatball GE] Electric"

 

I actually have a whole bunch of 50s & 60s Scripto pens with that logo, most for military departments. But I don't use them because I'm sure I'd wear off the ink that the logo & department names were stamped with. Few of them are for the Advanced Electronics Research Center, which was a sort-of secretive collaborative with cornell & the military that was run out of an old airplane hanger. Whole department was managed by a Brigidier General to do nuclear weapons research [among many other things]. Have the sign to that department hanging on my wall. If things could talk, it would have some stories. E-lab had some similar secret buildings in the Syracuse area for defense work back then. Including a few buildings made 100% out of wood [no metal whatsoever] to conceal radar prototypes. No one was allowed in or near them wearing any metal [i.e. zippers, belts etc] because it would skew their data. Makes you wonder what they were writing with. Must have been a crazy time to be alive.

Edited June 17, 2014 by sgath92

[sgath92]

Well I got my pen back from Cross today.

 

They gave me the current [Chinese made] Cross Century rollerball pen, with a note saying that my American made GE rollerball has been discontinued.

 

So there you have it: If you have a Classic Century old enough to take the original refills, they do not support the product, do not make refills for it, and will not modify it to take modern refills.

[blINK]

Well I got my pen back from Cross today.

 

They gave me the current [Chinese made] Cross Century rollerball pen, with a note saying that my American made GE rollerball has been discontinued.

 

So there you have it: If you have a Classic Century old enough to take the original refills, they do not support the product, do not make refills for it, and will not modify it to take modern refills.

Did they send back the GE logo or cap?