CS Duro Nibs

[Greg]

Firstly, is a Duro a type of pen or nib?

 

CS Duro nibs have been reknown as among the best available for many years now and equip, as standard, most of the more expensive vintage CS models.

 

I have a couple of pens with Duro nibs and can vouch for their reliability, and pleasure in use.

 

Duro nibs come in a range of sizes and numbered variations with numbering as easy to understand as the pen models themselves. Duros aren't necessarily the largest nibs (some CS 5 nibs are at least equal in size to some of the Duro nibs) but the largest CS nibs are Duros.

 

Duro pens are generally fitted with Duro nibs, although my unnumbered Duro 'No. 1' has an enormous CS no number nib. So which came first, the Duro pen or the Duro nib?

 

After the demise of the Duro pen the legend lived on in nib alone with, for example, the 45, 55, 58 60, 77 models. Are these Duro pens because they have Duro nibs? They don't have 'Duro' written on the body anywhere whereas a Duro nib will be inscribed with 'Duro'.

 

Interestingly the modern Conway Stewart firm makes pens with the name 'Duro' as opposed to Duro nibs. The nibs, I understand, come from the Bock factory in Germany. They are inscribed 'Conway Sewart' but outsourced, perhaps why there isn't a modern Duro nib. (My experience with one of these nibs in a Churchill was an outstanding pleasure!)

 

So, what makes a Duro a Duro? We can recognise them easily as they have 'Duro' written on them. But is it a nib or a pen, or both? What is the difference in the nibs? Is it a special material (Jonathan describes it as 'thicker' - which might explain why I have yet to come across a flexible Duro nib)? Are they designed differently? Did they come in a wider range of line thickness? Could flexibility be varied with the order?

 

 

Greg

 

ps - Can anyone inform us what a Duro 'Manifold' nib is please? Surely not just even thicker?

Edited November 6, 2007 by Greg

[andyr7]

I think it's fairly certain the Duro range of pens came first, early Duros are often seen with standard CS nibs. Certainly the advertising of around 1930 shows a Duro 2 clearly fitted with a standard no6 Conway Stewart nib. I couldn't give you an exact date for the introduction of the Duro nib but the Christmas advertisement for 1933 shows a Duro 30 pen fitted with a Duro nib. This being the case, I would guess the Duro nib came in about the time of the style change from straight to tapering sided pens in around 1932.

 

I have always understood that it is the thickness of the Duro nib that makes it more 'durable' but I don't know whether anybody has taken a micrometer to a range of nibs to prove this! Presumably, the materials that are alloyed with the pure gold to make 14ct can also affect the flexibility so they may have been made with a different 'quality' of gold as well. Manifold nibs were stiff, for writing through carbon paper, so if such a thing as a Duro manifold nib does exist, it is probably very stiff, though not necessarily thicker.

 

I think the benefits of the Duro nib were such that, even when the Duro pens were discontinued at the outbreak of war, it was seen fit to retain the nib for a premium product (hence 58s and 60s have Duro nibs but not 27s or 28s) as showcased on the 'Pen with the Marvellous nib' advertising material. This doesn't make them Duros, any more than they would be Burnhams if fitted with Burnham nibs - OK, maybe a bit of an overstatement but you know what I mean!

 

Andy

Edited November 7, 2007 by andyr7

[Greg]

CS Manifold Duro nib details may be seen here (where would we be without Jonathan Donahaye):

 

http://www.ftic.info/Donahaye/ConwayStewart/fpngallery/nib5.htm

 

and (the rather splendid) pens associated with these nibs are:

 

http://www.ftic.info/Donahaye/ConwayStewart/csbook/cs650.htm

 

Which confirms Andy's notion regarding use of carbon paper. (funny how these were made as straightforward office equipment but now part of collections of desirables.)

 

I would contend the Duro nibs were more expensive to make, hence their exclusivity to top of the range pens and not made in a wider range of sizes for all CS pens, giving CS a marketting edge. I have never seen any evidence they were produced for other pen manufacturers.

 

However I still don't know what makes them a Duro. I've inspected mine for thickness, albeit by eye, and the difference must be at least macroscopic if not microscopic. I'm happy to accept (for now) that they are thicker as it seems a good arguement by people who know more than me and my Duro nibs could not be considered flexy.

 

Greg