My Welcoming friend from the "Introduce Yourself" forum wrote:
][...]I think you gave the first topic: The day after Theodor Kovacs invented the piston filling mechanism. Was it actually 1925 or better 1928? Was it really invented in Croatia?...
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Amazingly, when you look at Pelikan's Web site, they never mention the cotribution of Theodor Kovacs. Must national pride, ey?

The Brits at: http://www.jardin-d-eden.co.uk/acatalog/Pelikan_Pens.html seem to be more forthcoming.
"In 1925 the firm [Pelikan] purchased patents from Theodor Kovacs, subsequently hiring Kovacs and Carola Bako to perfect the first piston filing system. Theodor Kovacs was a Hungarian engineer who developed a filling system with a special piston designed to overcome the disadvantages of the manual filling systems of the time, namely eyedropper and perishable rubber-sac pens. In 1923 he patented his design, offering it to Pelikan and Montblanc, finally contracting in 1927 with Pelikan. A suction pump with differential spindle gear ensures clean, rapid and reliable filling - the piston of the pump automatically cleans the ink container and keeps it transparent - whilst the special ink feed for the nib ensures instant writing."

From the "World Knowledge Library" we get the following: "In Europe, German Günther Wagner 's office supplies production started in 1871, and "Pelikan" became a major producer of fountain pens in the 1890s. They acquired patents for the solid-ink fountain pens from the factory of Slavoljub Penkala from Croatia (patented 1907, in mass production since 1911), and the patent of the Hungarian Theodor Kovacs for the modern piston filler by 1925." http://www.masterliness.com/a/Fountain.pen.htm

Exactly the same is here:
http://www.arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Fountain_pen

ditto for Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_pen
http://www.fredericksburgartists.com/encyc...a/Fountain_pen/
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclope...ountain_pen.htm

The Dutch provide more detail for the people involved ("an amusing story"), but are not specific about the years: http://www.pw-akkerman.nl/Diversen/Boeken/...ala/Penkala.htm

So for all intents, I think we can accept that Kovacs patented the piston in 1923, Pelikan bought the patent from him in 1925, and he went to work for them in 1927.

What do you tink?

Very interesting info, thanks!

According to book "Pelikan Schreibgerate" by Jurgen Dittmer and Martin Lehmann, story goes something like this:

Theodor Kovacs developed a fountain pen with differential piston. The Reich's patent office in Berlin granted him the patent for this FP as well as for the tehnical drawng instrument in 1923. Probably because the patent office was in the neighborhood, Kovacs happened to stumble on the Berlin representative office of the Moster Penkala Werke A.G. Company (which was based in Zagreb). Moster tool a licence on the patent paying Kovacs in dollars (which was a very good deal becuase of the inflation). However, the production never started becuase of the financial problems. As a result Kovacs didn't earn enough royalty fees and tried to terminate the agreement. Moster refused, but after the ruling from the Reich's court in Leipzig, he was forced to restrict its contractual rights to the sole territories of Yugoslavia, Greece, Rumania, Asia Minor, Turkey and Egypt. Kovacs then began to contact German companies and found Gunther Wagner company as the best solution.

What fun this is. Getting into the arcana of fountain pen evolution, that is.

Thanks for adding to the "knowledge base" and clarifying some of the issues.

removed

Thomas,
in the next post of mine I wanted to write what was said in Tischler's book
You outran me a little bit. However, I agree absolutely with Miro Penkala was indeed a great inventor. Pen history is very interesting indeed.
Thank you and if I may add, great dynamic forum.
Dubravka

Wow

I don't come to the History subforum often, but it seems as though there's a completely different world of it's own in here

That was some very interesting stuff to read and have me thinking.

Thanks