And here's a picture of a Wahl, maybe even a wall, nib chart with 26 styles of nibs to choose from, patent no. 1,351,564. This one's for Syd the Wahlnut, and Lynn Brant, and Don Lavin, and Cliff Harrington, and all the other countlessly many Wahl-Eversharp collectors out there. It would make a great poster. Oh, for the glory days when we had a nib selection such as that, eh?!

Anyone else have any other favorite nib charts?

George Kovalenko.

:ph34r:

COOL!....Thanks!...
Here is a picture of a #5 Tempoint Stub and a writing sample

Did you notice that the nibs in the chart take two basic forms? There are the ones with the long, slender, probably-flexible points, and the short, stubby, probably-firm italic points. That's the true meaning of the word "stub". It all comes down to the overall shape. They were probably all italic, too, so that's the source of the confusion that the name referred to the point, rather than the overall shape.

Instead of using peoples' names, or signatures as examples of writing, I wish they had used the names of the nibs, or descriptions of the style of writing of each nib.

George Kovalenko.

:ph34r:

George, I am aware of your suggestion of the origin of the term stub and the fact that it was not considered to be different than italic. For those of you that dont know what I am talking about see this article by George in Richard Binder's site here.

I do find the way that Richard uses the stub/italic in terms of the roundness of the edge very practical (although historically incorrect). I think Richard has established now this terminology so widely, that any way to go back is difficult at best. The interesting thing is, however, that having a short nib is not the only way to decrease the flex in the nib. One may get the same result by having long but thick tines (of course this is not economical as more gold is needed).

Anyway facinating topic

AZ

Is nobody going to post an old Esterbrook nib chart? I would, but I don't have an original image of one. Brian must. What about the Waterman 7 color chart - didn't they have something?


John

John,

Estie nibs: http://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_inf...bs/ebpoints.gif
Osmiroid nibs: http://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_inf...bs/ospoints.gif
Both from Richard Binder's web site.

Waterman nibs (courtesy of Mike Covert)



I do not know if there are patents on them. They might be. George?
There are some great patents on the stainless steel of the Esterbrook pens which are worth discussing since there nibs are among the most used and less corroded steel nibs in FPs.

AZ

Teasing me about the phrase "the glory days", Dan Carmell on Pentrace suggested that there were lots of nib choices "back in the days of the Parker 75". But there was a greater nib selection even more recently than that. My response to him was that I'd even take the early days of the Parker Centennial Duofold. When that pen was first released, it was available with 11 nibs, and then quickly after that with 17 nibs, and then finally, at its height, with 24 nibs. All 24 nibs are illustrated and listed on page 319 of the new David Shepherd book on the "Parker Duofold". Since then, sadly, the general nib choice has seriously fallen back. Some newly released pens are available with 3 or 4 nib choices, and Ltd Ed. pens are sometimes available with only one choice, medium!

George Kovalenko.

:ph34r:

George, I apreciate your posting this nib chart. I have been away for a few weeks and did not see this till now.

The chart shown by you was used extensively for a year or two in the Wahl Eversharp advertising in magazines like the Literary Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, etc. Amazing to me but the US PAtent Office granted a patent for the "invention" of a chart to help folks select the right pen nib for their application and writing preferences.

Hers are a couple of pages from the Wahl Eversharp 1925 catalog that shows not only the nib choices, but goes into some detail about the characteristics of each.



and



Cheers,
Syd the Wahlnut Saperstein

Syd, those are really intriguing scans, although they're a little hard too read, especially the fine print under each nib. When I blow them up, they become too pixilated to be legible. Do you think you could rescan those images at a slightly higher resolution? Thanks,

George Kovalenko.

:ph34r:

OK, George,
Here's a better scan...I hope



and



I hope these are higher resolution.

Oh well go to these url's for a better look. Sorry to take up so much band width.
Syd

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/wahlnut/scan0003.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/wahlnut/scan0005.jpg