Sometimes People Are Just Too Creative

[kirchh]

Our wise moderator asked me to tell this brief tale.

 

I have a Vacumatic-filling striped Duofold on my bench. Won't fill. Filler feels OK; makes that "sac being pushed around" sound. But doesn't feel quite right.

 

So I pull the filler out (after a death match with heat and implements of Vac torment), and peer into the top end of the barrel to see what I'm dealing with in terms of the old diaphragm. Oddly, I see what looks like the top of a sac -- the closed end.

 

I unscrew the section (*that* came right off) and look in from the front. I see the open end of what looks like a sac. Did the diaphragm somehow descend all the way to the bottom of the barrel? A yank with the ear polypus and I am holding a full-length sac. But the pen is a Vacumatic... there's no nipple to which one could attach a sac! Oh, wait...there's a hard rubber nipple glued to the back end of the section.

 

Now, if there had actually been a breather tube in there, it's not completely impossible that it could have worked a little, if the butt end of the sac decided to comply by popping back into shape after being everted by the plunger. Though you wouldn't get your ink-level visibility, unless you used a clear sac. See, now I'm starting to get drawn into this...

 

--Daniel

[Ron Z]

Hint folks - Daniel wrote to me with a "you won't believe this" email. This is not to suggest an alternative way to restore a vac. Really. But the story is too entertaining not to share. It could be the start of some fun posts though - anyone else have a story like it to share?

[pen2paper]

and imaginative too..

no writing instrument stories but there was an object described as vintage airline.. well the sticker was modern airline, but the object the sticker was glued upon, (from a model kit). If original to the early object, would clearly rewrite history.. who knew Queen Victoria might have flown via jet propulsion? Was there Orville/Wilber backchannel secret ops projects?

 

Captured a moment of amusement, and was perfectly fine for those who wish to choose fanciful objects. An important But: if then used in competitive awards governed by exacting detailed judging rules, the cost of entry, submission transport to and from, and prize winnings, along with collection development costs would be a total financial loss and discouragement to the competitor, especially to new ones we gently guide to Seeing, and making choices that lead to success.

 

Secondary to this story, in much earlier competition, based upon the theme. Things with wings, had a dirigible disqualified.The judges entirely missed the wings advertisement on the side of the dirigible, a very clever addition that should have earned an extra point.

ok.. back to pen stories. this could be interesting

[scrivelry]

Pen came to me this month with the converter installed - the part you twist was stuck down by the nipple, and the open end was hanging out in the breeze when I unscrewed the barrel...

 

I sort of collect vintage sewing machines. Threads like this in sewing machine lists and forums tend to include finding things like mice nests, hoards of acorns, and occasionally small dead wildlife... now what, exactly, is small enough to nest in a fountain pen - that's the story I'm looking for!

[Hooker56]

Great story Daniel. I have to tell you that while entertaining, I would rather not get a pen in that condition!

[kirchh]

Pen came to me this month with the converter installed - the part you twist was stuck down by the nipple, and the open end was hanging out in the breeze when I unscrewed the barrel...

 

I sort of collect vintage sewing machines. Threads like this in sewing machine lists and forums tend to include finding things like mice nests, hoards of acorns, and occasionally small dead wildlife... now what, exactly, is small enough to nest in a fountain pen - that's the story I'm looking for!

 

Last week, I opened a pen and found a tiny, deceased spider inside.

 

--Daniel

[kirchh]

Great story Daniel. I have to tell you that while entertaining, I would rather not get a pen in that condition!

 

Yeah, I got to exercise my vocabulary rather thoroughly when I saw what I was dealing with. Not often one of the important steps in a restoration is, "cut off the nipple."

 

--Daniel

[pajaro]

I recently restored the second 51 vac I have tried. A 1942 pen, 2, no dots. The filler unit came out easily with moderate heat. The sac was stuck all over the inside. I picked it out. I peered inside with a flashlight. The breather tube was bent over to the barrel of the pen. I installed a rhodium colored brass filler unit with sac. A little light shellac on the filler threads with a toothpick and into the barrel. It works perfectly, but I don't understand why the breather tube is bent touching the barrel.

 

If I had not bought the filler unit assembled with the diaphragm installed, I can well imagine myself putting it together as in your original post. Until I saw one of these disassembled and the filler unit properly put together, I had no idea how the 51 vac worked, I regarded them as magic and generally avoided owning any.

[Ron Z]

 

 

If I had not bought the filler unit assembled with the diaphragm installed, I can well imagine myself putting it together as in your original post. Until I saw one of these disassembled and the filler unit properly put together, I had no idea how the 51 vac worked, I regarded them as magic and generally avoided owning any.

 

Which is why I suggest checking Richard Binders website, or the Marshall and Oldfield book if you aren't sure what to do. You'll also find manufacturers repair manuals in the PCA library. Lots of information that will help you do the repair without breaking your pen. Waiting just a little longer until you understand the pen just might save the pen.

[kirchh]

I recently restored the second 51 vac I have tried. A 1942 pen, 2, no dots. The filler unit came out easily with moderate heat. The sac was stuck all over the inside. I picked it out. I peered inside with a flashlight. The breather tube was bent over to the barrel of the pen. I installed a rhodium colored brass filler unit with sac. A little light shellac on the filler threads with a toothpick and into the barrel. It works perfectly, but I don't understand why the breather tube is bent touching the barrel.

 

If I had not bought the filler unit assembled with the diaphragm installed, I can well imagine myself putting it together as in your original post. Until I saw one of these disassembled and the filler unit properly put together, I had no idea how the 51 vac worked, I regarded them as magic and generally avoided owning any.

 

You wouldn't have decided a nipple needed to be glued to the back end of the section, I hope...

 

By the way, you don't need shellac on a filler unit's threads, in my experience. The breather tubes always seem to have a bit of a curve to them; perhaps the tube stock was stored in coils.

 

--Daniel

[risingsun]

 

By the way, you don't need shellac on a filler unit's threads, in my experience.

 

--Daniel

Agreed... Save yourself and/or someone else a potential headache and leave the filler unit threads clean. The threads don't have to be sealed for the unit to function normally, and I highly doubt a filler unit is going to loosen on its own.

[pajaro]

I didn't know whether to seal the filler unit on the 51 or not. I used it briefly and then pulled it out and found ink on the threads. So I sealed it with a miniscule amount of shellac, bearing in mind that it's easier to remove the part if the shellac is almost nonexistent.

[risingsun]

If there is ink on the threads, then I suspect you are not getting the tapered collar of the filler unit down to meet the machined taper in the barrel of the pen, compressing the diaphragm rubber. Ink should not get past that seal if installed properly, and shellac or any other sealant won't help any as the ink that gets past the rubber seal will just travel up the shaft of the plunger.

[kirchh]

I didn't know whether to seal the filler unit on the 51 or not. I used it briefly and then pulled it out and found ink on the threads. So I sealed it with a miniscule amount of shellac, bearing in mind that it's easier to remove the part if the shellac is almost nonexistent.

 

Ink on the filler threads indicates incorrect installation of the filler; the threads are not the place to seal the back end of the barrel. That's the job of the tapered seat for the diaphragm mouth.

 

--Daniel

[nigelg]

 

Last week, I opened a pen and found a tiny, deceased spider inside.

 

--Daniel

Inside one of those so-called golden web Parkers presumably.

[Ron Z]

 

 

Ink on the filler threads indicates incorrect installation of the filler; the threads are not the place to seal the back end of the barrel. That's the job of the tapered seat for the diaphragm mouth.

 

To elaborate - reason being that the diaphragm gets clamped between the ring and the tapered seat and serves as a gasket. Ingenious design, I think.

[kirchh]

Inside one of those so-called golden web Parkers presumably.

So that's how they made them...

 

--D

[scrivelry]

 

Last week, I opened a pen and found a tiny, deceased spider inside.

 

--Daniel

Yes, like that... inside the pen itself? You have to wonder how they manage...

[Garageboy]

That's one of those "it's so bad, I can't be mad" moments

 

Did the vacu fold survive the surgery?

[lahlahlaw]

 

Now, if there had actually been a breather tube in there, it's not completely impossible that it could have worked a little, if the butt end of the sac decided to comply by popping back into shape after being everted by the plunger. Though you wouldn't get your ink-level visibility, unless you used a clear sac. See, now I'm starting to get drawn into this...

 

--Daniel

Was the section easy to unscrew? I bet they were unscrewing the section and squeezing the sac by hand. Don't ask me how I know this (uhumm.. broken Sheaffer Touchdown resurrected..).