As several of you may know, it's very difficult to see how much ink is contained in the Parker 45's converter while you fill it. Unlike most Parker's, my 45 also had a little spring-like thing inside the converter, much like how some Parkers have a little ball bearing. When I was looking at it in the shop, the little spring didn't move from the mouth of the converter as I moved the plunger up and down or shook it, but while I was filling it up with ink when I got home, I had a little trouble discerning how much ink was actually in it. I gently tried giving the converter a little twist before pulling it out, and that's when I heard a weird sound. Ever since then, the spring moves around inside the converter! Is my converter already broken or is that normal? Is the coil supposed to act like the ball bearing in other Parker converters, or was it supposed to attach to some internal mechanism of the 45? As it stands right now, it's still writing all right, but I'm going to be really heartbroken if it's already broken since it's extremely difficult to find fountain pens in the country I live in, much less a replacement converter or Parker dealer. It was such a buttery smooth writer too!

Hi,

The spring is supposed to move around, just like the ball bearing.

Dillon

If the converter is still functioning properly (i.e. filling and expelling ink properly and not leaking) then all is well.
Converters are supposed to be removable, so you can 'convert' the pen to a cartridge filler.
It appears that your pen may have been in storage for some time, and the converter just became attached to the nipple on the section just a little too firmly.
Even if you did break the converter (and I don't think you have), they are inexpensive and easily replaceable.
The Parker 45 is a very robust pen. Enjoy it.

Thank you for all your help, it helped assuage my paranoia. Guess there was nothing to worry about. I was just so worried because as I mentioned earlier, it is nigh impossible to find fountain pens in the country I live in, much less a replacement converter for a Parker (which I believe has a propriety system?)