Finally followed Gerry's suggestion to put the list in the first post, for easy access. Here it is :

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

http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e_index.html (Werner Ruettinger--- Pelikan History)
http://www.parker75.com/ (Lih-Tah Wong---Parker 75 guide)
http://www.ftic.info/Donahaye/ConwayStewart/index.htm (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.about.com/library/weekly/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.rickconner.net/penoply/index.html (Rick Conner's site)

http://hans.presto.tripod.com/nibs/esterbrook.html (Hans Presto's site)
http://www.esterbrook.net/ (Brian Anderson's site)

http://www.billspens.com/billsreprints/reprint.htm (Bill Acker's Catalogue Reprints)


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.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/estienibs.htm (on Richard Binder's site)
http://www.snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm (on Larry Snyder's site)
http://www.vintagepens.com/esterbrook_nib_chart.shtml (from David Nishimura's site)

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

http://www.parkvillepen.com/bexleycollection.html (Parkeville Pen.com - Dennis Bowden)
http://www.whiteapplemultimedia.com/history.html (Esterbrook Dip Pens - Penariffic)
http://www.estilograficas.net/ (Spanish Pen Site)

Great idea, Denis!

Here are some other sites I have bookmarked:

http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e_index.html (Werner Ruettinger--- Pelikan History)
http://www.parker75.com/ (Lih-Tah Wong---Parker 75 guide)
http://www.prog2kill.com/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.)

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.about.com/library/weekly/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.

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.rickconner.net/penoply/index.html (Rick Conner's site)

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.

Found a couple of good reference sites for Estie collectors:

http://hans.presto.tripod.com/nibs/esterbrook.html (Hans Presto's site)
http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/esterbrook/ (Brian Anderson's site)

I recently was told about this site. It is not a pen site, but let you search through patents worlwide. Very good site for the pen history oriented ones.

http://ep.espacenet.com/

Okay, this one is equally important;

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

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

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

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.ruettinger-web.de/e_index.html (Werner Ruettinger--- Pelikan History)
http://www.parker75.com/ (Lih-Tah Wong---Parker 75 guide)
http://www.prog2kill.com/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.about.com/library/weekly/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.rickconner.net/penoply/index.html (Rick Conner's site)

http://hans.presto.tripod.com/nibs/esterbrook.html (Hans Presto's site)
http://www.angelfire.com/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.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/estynibs.htm (on Richard Binder's site)
http://www.snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm (on Larry Snyder's site)
http://www.vintagepens.com/esterbrook_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

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

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/estynibs.htm (on Richard Binder's site)
http://www.snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm (on Larry Snyder's site)
http://www.vintagepens.com/esterbrook_nib_chart.shtml (from David Nishimura's site)

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/

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

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

[QUOTE=Denis Richard,Oct 16 2004, 11:41 PM]Finally followed Gerry's suggestion to put the list in the first post, for easy access. Here it is :

snip...


And the site dedicated to that wonderful low cost pen, the LUS Atomica, the pen that was designed to REPLACE the ballpoint!!!
www.lusatomica.com
LUS Atomica

Update:

Jonathan Donahaye's amazing Conway Stewart pens site has been moved to:
http://www.ftic.info/Donahaye/ConwayStewart/index.htm

(the old link doesn't work anymore)

Thanks Maja - it's fixed now.

Gerry

For those who want some interesting info on Esterbrook's Dip pens, here is my site:

http://www.whiteapplemultimedia.com/history.html

-Penariffic

I have been developing some web pages to showcase my Bexley collection and to provide a point of reference for collectors trying to identify a Bexley pen. The pages are not complete, but I thought I could put them out there for your preview now. Follow the link below and let me know what you think.

Dennis Bowden

Dennis, thanks for doing this; it'll be a great resource for all us Bexley fans. Only one problem, I see a couple of models I've just "gotta have". Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the magnificent list of links, I have found site very interesting in Spanish ( http://www.estilograficas.net )

Not specifically for pens only, but interesting nonetheless:

Early Office Museum

Click on "Exhibits" to see the categories.