[Hirsch]

A while ago I spoke with an elderly gentleman at a pen show. He had served in the Pacific theater in WWII (air support), and mentioned having been at Guadalcanal. At one point, I had mentioned a pen as a "ring top". He quickly corrected me, and told me that it was in fact a "ladies' pen". At the time, soldiers couldn't have a pen loose in their pockets, or they would lose it. So, almost everyone in his unit used a ladies' pen on a lanyard. They did not use the euphemism "ring top" at the time, and the gentleman I was speaking to was adamant that the correct terminology was "ladies' pen". For the soldiers, use of a ladies' pen was a practical necessity at the time. Not everyone who used a ladies' pen was a lady.

It made a lot of sense. A ladies' pen is small, relatively inexpensive (even then), and difficult to lose...exactly what a military situation would require.

[Johnny Appleseed]

That is consistant with what I have noticed about the nomenclature around ring-top pens. In 1900-1920s, they were often called "vest pocket" pens and aimed at men to weat in their wastecoat pocket, or women to wear on a neck-chain. From the late 20s-1940s or so they became "Ladies pens", with only occasional appearances after 1950.

John

[jar]

Well, I've been doing some more research and it appears that Dad used his Parker Vacumatic during most of the war. It seems he lost it somewhere in North Africa and that the family sent him a replacement.

He was a disappointment to the family since my Grandfather was a Sheaffer pen men but the Parker Vacumatic also met the dress regs while most Sheaffers did not.


There are lots of folk claiming that the Sheaffer Tuckaways were military pens but actually they did not sit deep enough.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Quote

There are lots of folk claiming that the Sheaffer Tuckaways were military pens but actually they did not sit deep enough.

That's probably residual effect of the confusion between the tuckaway clasp and the military clip-- the former being exclusive to the dinky little pens, and being a wee trapezoid that almost certainly wouldn't cling through jogging, while the latter is essentially a regular Sheaffer clip mounted upside down and bent right over the top of the cap on a regularly sized pen (although they seem to have been all slender models). I was wearing one yesterday, a Vigilant, and it seems as likely to hold as a Parker or Waterman clip in a pocket with a flap on it.

Alas, I lack demonstrative pictures.

[jar]

Ernst Bitterman, on 02 November 2009 - 10:12 PM, said:

Quote

There are lots of folk claiming that the Sheaffer Tuckaways were military pens but actually they did not sit deep enough.

That's probably residual effect of the confusion between the tuckaway clasp and the military clip-- the former being exclusive to the dinky little pens, and being a wee trapezoid that almost certainly wouldn't cling through jogging, while the latter is essentially a regular Sheaffer clip mounted upside down and bent right over the top of the cap on a regularly sized pen (although they seem to have been all slender models). I was wearing one yesterday, a Vigilant, and it seems as likely to hold as a Parker or Waterman clip in a pocket with a flap on it.

Alas, I lack demonstrative pictures.

Exactly. The reason the Tuckaways wouldn't pass review was that they have a typical clip placement, still a ways down from the peak. They would not fit under the pocket flap without showing a bulge.

[AllWriteNow]

I posted this one earlier in the Sager thread.
This is a 1940s Inkmaker. The clip would certainly conform to the pocket requirement.
The user added water and the 'stick' in the barrel, I guess, contained concentrated ink.
I've filled it once and it made faint Blue ink.
Steve

This post has been edited by AllWriteNow: 03 November 2009 - 12:50 AM

[Ernst Bitterman]

I took a picture this morning-- and if I can take a picture like this while sitting comfortably in my own den, is it any wonder that pictures of UFOs and Sasquatch are so blurry?

[jar]

Ernst Bitterman, on 03 November 2009 - 02:35 PM, said:

I took a picture this morning-- and if I can take a picture like this while sitting comfortably in my own den, is it any wonder that pictures of UFOs and Sasquatch are so blurry?

Thank you. You make even my pictures look good. :insert missing bunny:

[Mille]

jar, on 02 November 2009 - 08:52 PM, said:

Well, I've been doing some more research and it appears that Dad used his Parker Vacumatic during most of the war. It seems he lost it somewhere in North Africa and that the family sent him a replacement.

He was a disappointment to the family since my Grandfather was a Sheaffer pen men but the Parker Vacumatic also met the dress regs while most Sheaffers did not.


There are lots of folk claiming that the Sheaffer Tuckaways were military pens but actually they did not sit deep enough.

Some people took pens seriously back then as well.

[BearsPaw]

I think many people, regardless of class, used fountain pens during the war. My grandfather's family were farmers from Iowa, and he wrote letters to my grandmother using a Sheaffer Triumph Lifetime (help me out if that's the wrong name) that she bought him before he shipped off. He became a police officer after the war, and continued using it. These must be bulletproof because he never serviced it and it still worked when he gave it to me a few years ago. Unfortunately, small drops of ink started coming out of the plunger shortly afterwards. Ron Zorn restored it for me, and it is still in service.

These are not the best photos in the world.

[jar]

BearsPaw, on 10 November 2009 - 12:31 AM, said:

I think many people, regardless of class, used fountain pens during the war. My grandfather's family were farmers from Iowa, and he wrote letters to my grandmother using a Sheaffer Triumph Lifetime (help me out if that's the wrong name) that she bought him before he shipped off. He became a police officer after the war, and continued using it. These must be bulletproof because he never serviced it and it still worked when he gave it to me a few years ago. Unfortunately, small drops of ink started coming out of the plunger shortly afterwards. Ron Zorn restored it for me, and it is still in service.

These are not the best photos in the world.

Pretty pen.

[Pepin]

What about the Italian and Spanish Army? What pens did they use?

[Vintagepens]

It should be kept in mind that while a large number of soldiers from the wealthier countries would have been able to afford a good fountain pen, the situation would have been very different elsewhere. You can bet that fountain pens were pretty uncommon among Soviet conscripts, for example.

I don't know what the average Italian soldier would have had in the way of writing instruments, but it's a certainly that it wouldn't have been one the top-line brands so esteemed by collectors today.

[MiamiArchStudent]

Vintagepens, on 10 November 2009 - 05:06 PM, said:

It should be kept in mind that while a large number of soldiers from the wealthier countries would have been able to afford a good fountain pen, the situation would have been very different elsewhere. You can bet that fountain pens were pretty uncommon among Soviet conscripts, for example.

I don't know what the average Italian soldier would have had in the way of writing instruments, but it's a certainly that it wouldn't have been one the top-line brands so esteemed by collectors today.

Would it be a safe assumption that the Italian soldiers used brands like Pelikan, Montblanc, Osmia or Faber Castell, since the German Army had a massive presence in Italy ever since Mussolini's troops couldn't defend their positions in Africa? Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

MiamiArcStudent

[Kaweco]

Hello David and Arc Student
Why this? Actually Italy had very good fountainpenindustries since the 20th like Ancora Aurora Columbus Fendograph Montegrappa Omas Penco Radius Tabo or Tibaldi. Why should an average person purchase an expensive import model? Aurora produced a special white fountainpen model for the soldiers during the occupation of the fascist regime in Italy 1935, the Aurora Etiopia. (Source: Lambrou, Fountainpens Vintage and Modern)
Kind Regards, Thomas