Is anyone familiar with the filling system of a Mabie Todd Swan 3260? (Made in England)
How does it come out?
I see a circular clip/spring inside the barrel but hesitate to get too forceful, not being familiar with the set-up. I see some rust and corrosion that I would like to deal with. Or should I leave well enough alone?

Hi danielfalghero,

The Swan Leverless filling system comes in at least 2 forms and if, when you look into the barrel, you can see a long bar attached to the twist button at the butt end of the barrel then you have an early version, if all you can see is corrosion on the twist bar then a thorough fine wire brushing or cleaning with fine abrasive paper stuck onto a rigid plastic.wooden backing is the best bet and a polish to get rid of any uneveness or sharp edges. This is one pen that really does need talc on the sac, it was not one of Mabie Todd's most inspired designs but that said it works but sac failure is not unknown as the sacs get older.

If all you see is a pretty standard looking pressure bar like a button filler them you have the later version in which the turn knob on the end screws out a couple of turns as it winds in the inner part and loads up the pressure abr causing it to bend and compress the sac, all of those pens using the later version that I have seen have been plastic and not hard rubber so they can tolerate a soak if necessary but usually all it needs to sort these out is gentle movement of the knob and the introducion of some silicone lubricant into the threadsm a test tube brush or pipe brush will clean most crud out of the barrel, replacing the pressure bar sorts out the problem.

The 3260 as I recall uses the first system.

Cheers, John

John, do you know of anyone who repairs this, the first, type of leverless filler? Mine seems to have badly worn threads on the filler knob, this allows the pressure bar to wobble and not work correctly. The model # of the pen is 2060.

Thank you for the info, John. I should have mentioned that this is a levet filler, stamped "self filler". The circular clip appear to serve as a pin for the lever.

Hi Daniel,
It does sound as though you are missing the 'j' bar in the pen, There are various sites Richard Binders being one, that show diagrams of the filling mechanisms. You should see the'j' bar inside the barrel before you see the circular clip that holds the lever in place.

Correction

I just checked the 3260 that I have, and the lever operates a flat presure bar, this is hooked onto the lever to press flat against the sac, similiar to the system used extensively by Waterman. I have not seen these pressure bars for sale anywhere, 'j' bars are easier to come by. If you happen across any give me a shout, I need some for Waterman pens. All of the other Swan lever filler pens I have, have standard 'j' bars.
All the best,
Eric

Thank you Eric, will do. The pressure bat is there but shows quite a bit of rust so I'll look around and will keep you posted. The filling system is functional but doesn't look right, the lever appears to unhooked on one side. And nothing wants to come out, I suppose rust has something to do with it.
To be continued...
All the best,
d

Hi Daniel,

Right sorry for the duff info I was a bit busy yesterday and doing everything at a run, I should have thought that it was a lever filler.

The pressure bar can be gently but firmly pulled off the tags on the lever, I use a set of forceps to do this. When you have the bar free it can be cleaned with fine wire brushes and fine abrasives and finished with a metal polish which must be carefully removed, the easiest way is let it dry and brush off with a toothbrush. To refit the bar is simple once you get the hang of it, the tags on the lever are positioned so that in most cases all one has to do is slide the bar down the side of the barel onto the tags.

I don't know of a source of replacements and buy junkers and damaged pens for spares.

Sorry for the screw up and best of luck with the pen

Cheers, John