Is ink eradicator still sold?

[someonesdad]

Do some of you folks remember the little glass bottles (about a fluid ounce) with the black caps that had ink eradicator in them? The cap had a glass rod with a little sphere on the end. You rubbed the liquid across the fountain pen ink to eradicate it.

 

Is this stuff still available anywhere? You could typically find it at the five and dime stores.

 

I'm not talking about Pelikan's eradicator or a pen.

 

If not available, does anyone know what chemicals were in it? I've read some folks saying it was bleach, but I doubt this, as it didn't have a bleach smell (or it wasn't sodium hypochlorite). It was also in a clear bottle, so I doubt it contained hydrogen peroxide.

[Anne-Sophie]

I saw something like that in pendemonium.com under the heading vintage ink and ink bottles.

[someonesdad]

I saw something like that in pendemonium.com under the heading vintage ink and ink bottles.

Hi, Anne-Sopie:

 

I did to, but I was interested in knowing if it is a product that is still manufactured. The last time I remember using it was probably in the early 60's.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I have the Pelikan Super Pirat eradicators in stock. You can PM me if you want a few.

 

The things are just so hard to find! I will have ask Chartpak why they make them so hard to get. (It's hard getting stock, and they come to us dealers in packages of 50 and one box does last a good while)

 

Dillon

[Ondina]

They are widely available in Germany, France.... as for the US, as Dillon has them, buy from him. I think I have seen them in stock sometime at Pendemonium or Swisherpens.

[someonesdad]

I'm aware of the Pelikans, but that's not what I'm after. I was hoping to find the bottles of the liquid with the little glass rod. These were the same rods that your mom put the hated Mercurochrome on a cut with and it stung like the Dickens. Most folks under 30 or 40 probably have never heard of Mercurochrome -- it was classified as not safe and effective by the FDA and not allowed to be sold anymore. Now you geezers know why you never see it in the stores anymore...

[Anne-Sophie]

I saw something like that in pendemonium.com under the heading vintage ink and ink bottles.

Hi, Anne-Sopie:

 

I did to, but I was interested in knowing if it is a product that is still manufactured. The last time I remember using it was probably in the early 60's.

 

Someonesdad is -not- talking about the pen version of the eradicator but the bottle version.

 

I would guess that it is not manufactured anymore in the U.S or Europe. in the 70's, the eradicators replaced that product in Europe .

 

However, in some climates, those eradicators have a tendency to dry (becoming useless) relatively quickly.

 

Having seen the treasures that come from India, I would hope that one of our members from this beautiful and vast country could locate the product you are after, if it is still made locally.

Edited November 23, 2008 by Anne-Sophie

[Okami]

How about this?

 

 

Stafford's Out - Rite Ink Eradicator

Edited November 23, 2008 by jbynum

[someonesdad]

Thanks, jbynum -- I found that too when I searched, but that's old stock. I was asking if someone still manufactured it. I haven't found it yet... So, maybe it's time to roll my own. Does anyone know its chemical composition?

[BillTheEditor]

Thanks, jbynum -- I found that too when I searched, but that's old stock. I was asking if someone still manufactured it. I haven't found it yet... So, maybe it's time to roll my own. Does anyone know its chemical composition?

I am pretty sure it was just weak bleach. I remember seeing calcium hypochlorite listed on the labels long, long ago. (Don't ask me how or why I remember these things -- it's the joy/curse/embarrassment of having an eidetic memory.)

 

Added: Laundry bleach is sodium hypochlorite. Calcium hypochlorite is similar, but makes more chlorine available. It did smell like bleach. I remember that the solution would make the paper pretty wet, and you had to wait for it to dry. I also remember that on cheap school notebook paper it would pretty much make the f.p. ink you applied next feather badly. I don't recall ever using it on good stationery.

Edited November 24, 2008 by BillTheEditor

[Nick A]

I know what you are talking about. It was like bleach, but definitely not bleach. Watered down bleach is too runny and watery to be uses as eradicator. The eradicator needs to almost go on dry, or evaporate very quickly, so water would not be the medium, but maybe something alcohol based? I had two bottles that I got in the 80's and have not been able to find it since. The stuff I got then looked relatively "new" for the time (it was not old stock). I believe it was a Sanford product. I would venture to say, with 100% certainty, that no one manufactures it or sells it this way in the United States any longer. I'm sure a chemist would have some ideas about what the solution might have been.

Edited November 24, 2008 by Nick A

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Do some of you folks remember the little glass bottles (about a fluid ounce) with the black caps that had ink eradicator in them? The cap had a glass rod with a little sphere on the end. You rubbed the liquid across the fountain pen ink to eradicate it.

I remember the stuff well, because it was how I learned the word "eradicator."

 

In the 4^th grade my teacher was going on about looking for some. She had to borrow it from another teacher. I think she sent a boy to another teacher's classroom to see if she could get some from that teacher. She may have had to send the kid to several classrooms in order to get it. It might have been a school-wide common bottle of the stuff. I couldn't figure out what she was saying, having never heard the word eradicator before. I kept saying, "Ink Ecuador?" I was fascinated to watch her applying it to something or other on her desk after the bottle was brought in. Yes, it had the glass rod as an applicator.

 

When I got home it took a while for my parents to figure out what I was asking and they told me what it was.

 

Is this stuff still available anywhere? You could typically find it at the five and dime stores.

I haven't seen that exact stuff anywhere for at least 35 to 40 years. I looked for some in about 1970, or so and was unable to find any then. I didn't do a gigantic search, but I did visit local candy stores and stationery shops and five and dime stores.

 

So I suspect the answer is no, the exact stuff you're looking for is no longer sold.

[pengoddess]

Do some of you folks remember the little glass bottles (about a fluid ounce) with the black caps that had ink eradicator in them? The cap had a glass rod with a little sphere on the end. You rubbed the liquid across the fountain pen ink to eradicate it.

 

Is this stuff still available anywhere? You could typically find it at the five and dime stores.

 

I'm not talking about Pelikan's eradicator or a pen.

 

If not available, does anyone know what chemicals were in it? I've read some folks saying it was bleach, but I doubt this, as it didn't have a bleach smell (or it wasn't sodium hypochlorite). It was also in a clear bottle, so I doubt it contained hydrogen peroxide.

 

 

Ink eradicator (the real stuff, not Super Pirats!) was taken off the market, oh, probably in the late 1970s-early 1980s. We sold it for years in the office supply store, Carter's and Sanford's were the most common. You can thank Uncle Sam for that, the story I got from the manufacturers was that it was toxic and the EPA banned it. OK, it was pretty potent, but not *that* bad. I think it was probably banned to to cut down on forgeries. Most ink eradicators were two part liquids. One would bleach out the ink, the other would rebuild the paper surface. We still to this day get requests for this regularly, amazing how many people used it and remember it.

 

Sam

[someonesdad]

Is this stuff still available anywhere? You could typically find it at the five and dime stores.

I haven't seen that exact stuff anywhere for at least 35 to 40 years. I looked for some in about 1970, or so and was unable to find any then. I didn't do a gigantic search, but I did visit local candy stores and stationery shops and five and dime stores.

 

So I suspect the answer is no, the exact stuff you're looking for is no longer sold.

I wrote hundreds of pages of stuff in the early 70's with a fountain pen and never used it then or remember seeing it in stores. I don't even remember seeing it in college in the 60's. So I'm guessing it's gone the way of the dodo bird.

[ErrantSmudge]

Monteverde now sells an ink eradicator pen. I reviewed it over in the Ink Reviews Forum:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/320248-review-monteverde-ink-eradicator-pen/