I have a Sheaffer Lever Fill which I believe is a Craftsman model that I picked up from a flea market. Dillo replaced the sac for me (I am only now starting to venture into pen repair).

When I fill the pen (or rinse it out) I notice that the pen appears to fill/empty from the junction of the nib and section. In other words, if I immerse the nib/section in a cup of water and pull the lever, the air bubbles seem to emanate from the intersection of the nib and section. Also, when I empty the pen, the ink/water seems to squirt out from that area.

Is this normal? Or does it mean that the seal between the nib and section is leaky?

I can imagine that it will be hard to suck up the last in the bottle of ink with a pen filling at that point. Essentially it means that I cannot draw up ink from a bottle unless there is enough ink to cover the nib up to the section.

Hi Kenny,

Triumph or open nib? Doesn't sound right to me...

Does it write well?


Cheers,
Tom

It seems to write OK; but sometimes I think it doesn't hold/fill with as much ink as I would expect.

Open nib, as I understand the term. Sheaffer's 33 is what is on the nib.

Yep, a 33 is an open nib (a triumph nib is a "closed" or "wrap-around" nib).

The reason I asked is that pens with triumph nibs have a little collet that joins the nib to the section and if it's broken, it can leak there. But, since this is an open nib and it writes okay, it probably is okay.

The nib and feed should go back into the section in the same orientation that they were removed (if they were removed). Some nibs and feeds can be a little loose in the section, and if there's enough of a gap, they'll pass fluids (air, ink) at the point where the nib/feed meets the section. This might be what's going on, and it's not terribly unusual.

If everything is working right, then the amount of ink the pen holds is a function of the sac size. Should fill like any other lever filler - as long as the end of the section is in the ink, it should take a full drink.

However, it is possible to get a bit more ink in some vintage lever fillers if you point the nib up after filling, blot off excess ink, and gently lift the lever until you see ink start to seep - then put it back in the ink bottle and let the lever go again. This is especially true of pens with long section, and ink-view sections. It's one of the reasons that W/E Skylines have a breather tube (in a lever filling pen) - you operate the lever a couple of times to fill the sac.

I hope this is more helpful than confusing...


Cheers,
Tom

With a few specific exceptions, all open nibs must be immersed far enough to cover a little of the section in order that they will fill properly. Some pens will fill partially with the nib not fully immersed, but they're not getting a full load. I append here for your reference a copy of an Esterbrook instruction sheet from 1959; even after Esterbrook attempted to copy Sheaffer's TIPdip design that allows filling with the nib half immersed, the Esterbrook instructions did not change.

Thanks for the info!