Hi All,

Does anyone have an approximate sense of when Sheaffer started calling Skrip "ink"? I've got lots of old Skrip bottles (as well as 1920s/30s print ads) that refer to Skrip "writing fluid" as "the successor to ink." One ad describes a vacuum-fill Sheaffer has having "Visible Skrip Supply" rather than a visible ink supply. It seems that the copy police were very vigilant about proper usage: Skrip was writing fluid, not ink. Sheaffer pens used Skrip, not ink.

To the extent I thought about it, I figured that this convention might have something to do with the storied failure of Sheaffer's very first ink: the alkaline Prussian Blue that reputedly had to be recalled. I reckoned that Sheaffer might have worked to win back wary retailers by positioning Skrip as the next step in the evolution of inks: hence "the successor to ink."

In the 1950s - I'm working from the ads I have at hand - things seem to loosen up. The "i" word makes a comeback, as Snorkel pens are described as "having a magic tube that reaches out to drink the ink." The PFM is described as having "massive ink capacity." But one still doesn't see the word "ink" following the brand name "Skrip."

Nowadays, I believe, Skrip packaging explicitly refers to the product as "ink." I'm just wondering when the changeover took place.

Cheers,

Jon