After seeing rroossinck's green Sheaffer for sale a week or two ago (sadly after it had already sold) I fell in lust over the Triumph nib. I went out and snagged a Sheaffer Lifetime (I think) on eBay. I knew it was unrestored and fully expected it to be in pretty bad condition. It arrived today and surprisingly it looks much better than I expected (the nib is spectacular) and the piston seems to work with no real effort.

Problem is, I'm not sure that it's filling like it should. It seems like it's holding ink but I don't see any in the translucent chamber where the vac piston is. I've been looking at cutaways on Richards site but I want to confirm that the entire pen is supposed to fill with ink and not just the forward section. If so, I assume the pen will need restoration to fix the piston head.

Again, the pen seems to be holding some ink and maybe I'm just not filling it correctly (if so ) It also doesn't seem to be leaking anywhere. This is my first vintage pen, so I just wanted to make sure it was an error with the pen and not with the headspace b/w pen and inkwell.

Thanks all!

There is fair chance it is not working.

It holds a good amount of ink (nonspecific, i know).

If you have filled it, then push pull the plunger, LOTS of ink should shoot out.

Just what saturates the feed from a dip, will give initial writing.

regards

david

In proper condition the pen should fill right up and hold a pretty substantial amount of ink. You should also see it in the chamber.

Chances are the filling unit needs restoration. These are great pens and often worth the price of a filler restoration. I would suggest sending it out to a pro though- it's not an easy repair (well in my view as a regular pen user).

Thanks David and Ray. That's what I was afraid of. I pretty much expected this given the fact that it was clearly sold as an unrestored pen (and priced accordingly). I was optimistic when it wrote for far longer than what I'd expect from a dipped nib (still writing actually), but it didn't seem to be drawing any significant amount of ink.


I'm definitely going to send it to one of the well regarded repairers that post here regularly, it's just going to be hard to part w/ the little guy for the time it'll take to get it done.

1. I've inspired lust? Uh-oh.
2. The purists will want to string me up for this, but you could always look into an eyedropper conversion for the time being. They're pretty easy to do (well, the one on my 1250 was), and they'll hold a boatload of ink (I think I measured about 3.3mL or some such number?).

Just my two centavos...take with appropriate measures of salt.

just say no

d

Actually, my last 3 purchases were kind of your fault. My Birdie and Hero 100 were both direct results of your budget pen post a little while back.

I've gotta agree with David on this one, I just can't bring myself to convert it. In fact, if your green one hadn't sold I was going to ask how difficult it would be to convert it back. Now that I've done the research, I know it's a degree of difficulty I'm comfortable with letting someone else handle...

Oh come on, David...if done properly, it can be totally reversed!

(I know how you feel, and honestly felt a little funky converting it in the first place, but I got impatient...and bored during a phone-in staff meeting/conference call...) Turned out pretty darn nice, too!

Those budget posts...gotta get back to those. I've got the $80/$100 class to cover.

Hey, as a quick favor, can you give a little advanced warning before you do? I'll need to freeze my credit card in a block of ice before I read it. The wife's tolerance level for expensive (greater than $4) pens is whittling away w/ each random package that shows up at the door.

Try filling it and then pull the plunger (slowly) and depress it again to see how much ink comes out.

You said you could not see a translucent chamber where you can see the plunger rod. Does the pen have a narrow translucent portion at the section, where the section meets the striated celluloid? Later Triumph vac-fillers have an opaque barrel with a visualated section, so you won't be able to see how full it is (actually there is an internal ink chamber inside the opaque barrel). You might have one of those. If a lot of ink comes out, then I would go ahead and use it until it starts giving you trouble.

John

Get 'em on ice now, Scorp. Hoping to have one ready for Friday - maybe two if I'm feeling ambitious.

I just bought a restored Sheaffer Triump Vac Fil - my first vac-fil. I filled it according to instructions on Richard Binder's website. I've written two or three letters with it and it's still going so I'm not just writing on what the feed soaked up from being dipped. But WHERE exactly does this pen store ink? I can hold it up to the light and see straight through the striated barrel so there's no ink in the barrel. The forward section doesn't look like it would hold very much ink. So I'm confused, too. Is there supposed to be ink IN the barrel?

Judybug

The combination of the feed and conical Triumph nib holds a lot more ink than a comparable open nib. It's not at all surprising that you could write several pages on one dip (I've done it more than once), especially if it's a fine or smaller point.
Tim

Well, yes, it is a fine point. Are you saying that it's possible that the feed and nib will hold enough ink to write two or three letters even if the filling system is not working correctly? I still would like to know - when the pen is full, is ink supposed to be visible in the barrel itself? I'm trying to determine if the filling system in my pen is functioning like it should.

Judybug

Certainly it depends on your handwriting... but it's entirely possible. Are you sure there's no ink at all in the barrel? The small vacuum fil in my pocket right now if turned just right at first glance looks empty, but if I turn it over (like from point down to point up) I can see the ink as it runs from one end to the other. Sometimes it takes a little tap on the barrel for this to happen though. I have another that the piston washer is about shot on that sometimes will seal ok and sometimes not. If it's working the way it should you feel some resistance as you depress the plunger (and see a flush of bubbles in the ink). When it doesn't seal well enough I rotate the blind cap (and thus the piston rod and washer) and try again until I can catch enough vacuum. If you push down the piston rod with the point in ink and no bubbles come out, you're not getting a seal, in which case the piston washer or packing unit or both need attention. If it's working marginally a little silicone grease on the piston rod helps (it should have some on it anyway).
Tim

I've found the ink-window on the Triumph vacs to be a little misleading, my experience being all with the 1940s style with the ink in a separate chamber inside the decorative barrel. By removing the outer barrel and filling it naked (GASP!), here's what I find-- there's so much open space beneath the break-point for the piston that it looks as if a partial fill has occurred. When you turn the pen point-up, the ink falls below the level of the window, but it COMPLETELY fills the vacuum chamber. A quick way to check this without dismantling the pen is to fill it with water, turn point up, pull the piston down, then unscrew the barrel from the section so it can slide down the piston rod. Point up, and that chamber is packed with fluid, but point down and most of it migrates into the section. There's still a ton of fluid in there, but compared to an open-point vac, there's a ton of air as well.

Oh I feel your pain on that one, my wife's (a red head) tolerance level has been reached as well. I just in the last cpl of weeks picked up a Sheaffer like yours and have not really written with anything else since it came in. I still haven't run it out of ink yet. Its kinda like that little bunny......... just keeps going and going. Get it fixed and enjoy it. Congrats on a fine purchase that will only be made sweeter with a full restoration.

NB

Yep, mine too, so you completely understand my dilemma. When she does hit that point, I've found it's best just to run outside into the sun. That should buy you at least 5 minutes of head start while she puts on 4 layers of sunscreen. The downside is that, at some point, you do have to return home.