[Maja]

Great idea, Denis!

Here are some other sites I have bookmarked:

http://www.ruettinge...de/e_index.html (Werner Ruettinger--- Pelikan History)
http://www.parker75.com/ (Lih-Tah Wong---Parker 75 guide)
http://www.prog2kill.../ConwayStewart/ (Jonathan Donahaye-Conway Stewart guide)
http://conway-stewart.old-pens.co.uk/ (David Wells---Conway Stewart guide)
http://www.jimgaston.com/ (Jim Gaston--lots of vintage ads, filling instructions, etc.)

[Free Citizen]

Maja, those were great links. Especially the Pelikan and the Conway Stewart references. For a A Brief History of Writing Instruments, check out this one; http://inventors.abo...ly/aa100197.htm It is a 3 part series written by Mary Bellis. I know there are probably more Parker users than any other maker. For a comprehensive info about the history of this pen company check out this site; http://parkerpens.net/ The copyright to this site is jointly held by Tony Fischier and The Parker Pen Company. Another major pen company at the turn of the 20th century is the Wirth Fountain Pen Company. A nice site about the history of this company can be found here; http://www.paulwirt.com/ Enjoy.

[Maja]

Hi FC!

Those are really good links, too; the Parker one is especially comprehensive!
For some more Paul Wirt history, I would add
http://www.kamakurapens.com (Ron Dutcher's site)

Another couple of good pen reference pen sites:
http://www.platinumplace.tc/ (Chan Haw Sing's extensive Platinum site)
http://www.rickconne...oply/index.html (Rick Conner's site)

[Free Citizen]

Hi Maja,

I know about Ron dutcher's site and Rick Conner has a very nice page on Pen History. However, your knock-me-out link was Chan Haw Sing's site. He must be the Platinum equivalent of Parker 75 Li-Tah Wong. Thanks Maja

Some notes of interest about Mary Bellis' articles, if you have read it, is that among the various types of self-filling designs that emerged after the eye-dropper, the most widespread was Sheaffer's Lever Filler. Interestingly, Parker also had a Cresent Filler named Click Filler. Also of interest was that the Ball Point took off like a rocket when it was first introduced but unreliability problems killed it and it was effectively dead at one time. Ironically, it was Parker that brought back the Ball Point with their Jotter! Another interesting fact was that before BiC bought Sheaffer, it owned 100 percent of Waterman in 1960. Now it looks like BiC is dumping Sheaffer in favour of Stypen.

[Maja]

Found a couple of good reference sites for Estie collectors:

http://hans.presto.t...esterbrook.html (Hans Presto's site)
http://www.angelfire...ab7/esterbrook/ (Brian Anderson's site)

[Free Citizen]

Okay, this one is equally important;

http://www.uspto.gov/index.html

[Maja]

http://www.parker51.com (Ernesto Soler's new Parker 51 site)

[Free Citizen]

Wow! Thanks Maja, you did good It is about time too. When I saw Li-Tah Wong's site, I wondered why there isn't an equivalent like that for the 51. Would you like to invite Ernesto Soler over? Rob would be thrilled

[Gerry]

Just a thought about making this list a little easier to refer to. I have copied all the individual links supplied so far into one message. If Denis is willing, he might edit his initial post to include them all. Then they will all be available in the first message - easy to find...

Gerry

http://www.vintagepens.com (David Nishimura)
http://www.penhero.com (Jim Mamoulides)
http://www.richardspens.com (Richard Binder)

http://www.ruettinge...de/e_index.html (Werner Ruettinger--- Pelikan History)
http://www.parker75.com/ (Lih-Tah Wong---Parker 75 guide)
http://www.prog2kill.../ConwayStewart/ (Jonathan Donahaye-Conway Stewart guide)
http://conway-stewart.old-pens.co.uk/ (David Wells---Conway Stewart guide)
http://www.jimgaston.com/ (Jim Gaston--lots of vintage ads, filling instructions, etc.)

http://inventors.abo...ly/aa100197.htm
http://parkerpens.net/
http://www.paulwirt.com/

http://www.kamakurapens.com (Ron Dutcher's site)
http://www.platinumplace.tc/ (Chan Haw Sing's extensive Platinum site)
http://www.rickconne...oply/index.html (Rick Conner's site)

http://hans.presto.t...esterbrook.html (Hans Presto's site)
http://www.angelfire...ab7/esterbrook/ (Brian Anderson's site)

PATENTS
http://ep.espacenet.com/ (patents - Denis Richard's post)
http://www.uspto.gov/index.html (patents - Free Citizen's post)

http://www.parker51.com (Ernesto Soler's new Parker 51 site - Maja's Post)

ESTERBROOK NIBS (Maja's Post):
http://www.richardsp...fo/estynibs.htm (on Richard Binder's site)
http://www.snyderfam...t/estienibs.htm (on Larry Snyder's site)
http://www.vintagepe...nib_chart.shtml (from David Nishimura's site)

http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/ (Penspotters Site - Rick Conner)


Continuing to add material - latest is Denis'...

Gerry

This post has been edited by Gerry: 20 February 2005 - 02:00 PM

[Maja]

Ok, here are the three main pages I use when looking up Esterbrook nibs:

http://www.richardsp...fo/estynibs.htm (on Richard Binder's site)
http://www.snyderfam...t/estienibs.htm (on Larry Snyder's site)
http://www.vintagepe...nib_chart.shtml (from David Nishimura's site)

[Maja]

Ok, Rick Conner has a new pen history site called "Penspotters" (no, it's not about fountain pens in movies/on tv!).
It is at: http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/

[Gerry]

Denis, I just checked all the links and all except one are ok. Brian Anderson's site has changed from the Angelfire one to:
www.esterbrook.net

[chela]

These links are wonderful! I'll have many hours of exploring some great stories about pen companies. The information about Wirt was really interesting.

Thanks for putting this together.

John