What Happened To Solv-x?

[coldman]

If you look at the picture on the box, you'll see what looks like a thin folding frame holding the bottle upright. Looks rather flimsy to me, but I've never met this bottle in person.

[kathleen]

During a recent exploration into a dusty antique, secondhand, junk shop I found quite a few bottles of Quink ink with Solv-x. Thinking vintage ink is perfect for my vintage pens I purchased half of what I found. I came away with one large 4 oz. bottle of Quink with Solv-x permanent red ($6) and two 2 oz. bottles of Quink with Solv-x permanent Blue black ($3 ea.) The box describes the ink stating "contains solv-x cleans your pen as it writes" , but no where does it list ingredients.

The inks are behaving well in my pens and I am considering returning to buy the remaining bottles, if they are still in the shop.

[welch]

During a recent exploration into a dusty antique, secondhand, junk shop I found quite a few bottles of Quink ink with Solv-x. Thinking vintage ink is perfect for my vintage pens I purchased half of what I found. I came away with one large 4 oz. bottle of Quink with Solv-x permanent red ($6) and two 2 oz. bottles of Quink with Solv-x permanent Blue black ($3 ea.) The box describes the ink stating "contains solv-x cleans your pen as it writes" , but no where does it list ingredients.

The inks are behaving well in my pens and I am considering returning to buy the remaining bottles, if they are still in the shop.

 

Extra benefit: the bottle design is so beautiful that you'll want to keep it. It whispers, "I'd look great on an oak desk in the Chrysler Building..."

 

(By the way, eBay prices are around $10 - 12 for a 2-ounce bottle, so go buy the rest!)

Edited November 30, 2010 by welch

[SamCapote]

OTT...but that old plastic MontBlanc bottle is exactly the same as the ones used by Wancher inks!

 

As for Solv-X...all I can say is that my bottle of 'Permanent' Quink Blue-Black with Solv-X is rather sticky. Err...it just feels that way. Feels fine coming out of a pen although on the dryish side but definitely not as free-flowing as Waterman inks.

 

You are right. Kind of surprising that the same bottle was still available after all these years for the Wanchers to use. Interesting to see how Engeika sends his Wanchers.

 

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/Inks/Wanchers/Wancher1s.jpg . http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/Inks/Wanchers/Wancher2s.jpg

Edited December 28, 2010 by SamCapote

[welch]

This is worth a bump and, perhaps, a permanent place because, in it:

 

(1) Member Corniche found the patent and deduced the components of Solv-X: phenol and amyl-xanthale. Phenol was the "solv" and amanthale-X was the "x".

 

(2) Several members gave us a best guess as to why Parker stopped adding Solv-X to Quink, and were able to determine that Solv-X was used as late as 1994. (Phenol, a fungicide, was found to be a carcinogen, a risk to workers making the ink)

 

***

 

[1] From Corniche, 19 November, 2010:

 

Greetings all,

I may have cracked the case. While the name Solv-X is not mentioned by name, there are allusions to it's purported qualities in an old patent application. I believe Solv-X was a combination of Phenol, (fungicide) and amyl-xanthale, a flow enhancer. The latter chemical is referred to in the followings ways; "flow promoter" and "the trend of flotation." I think Phenol was the "solvent," (Solv) and the amyl-xanthale provided the "X." Hence, Solv-X.

Parker Ink Patent

 

[2] From Johnny Appleseed

 

Posted 19 November 2010 - 16:41

I have a bottle of Quink Black with Solv-X that I would have bought sometime between the end of 1991 and the start of 1994 - probably 1992 actually. It was still being sold then.

I think the carcinogenic effects of phenol are debatable. It is still widely used in a number of products, including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. I think the main health concerns, and reasons for dropping it, are industrial - it poses a much greater risk to workers than to consumers.

Edited November 10, 2016 by welch

[Olya]

Thanks for the bump, indeed worth a permanent place because the impression I have is that most lust after the old Quink Solv-X, so it's good to know.

[Ryanlim]

Thanks for the bump. Late to the party, as a vintage pen novice. But I got my first Quink Black Solv-x. Definitely worth the money to use it. Am using it in my Waterman Expert. Writes smoothly and beautifully. Thanks everyone

[SamCapote]

https://www.chloraseptic.com/sore-throat-medicine/sore-throat-spray/cherry/

 

Still has Phenol in a commonly available throat spray.

[Paganini]

https://www.chloraseptic.com/sore-throat-medicine/sore-throat-spray/cherry/

 

Still has Phenol in a commonly available throat spray.

 

I just got a bottle of 4% Phenol solution from Natural Pigments about a month ago, thanks to your (SameCapote's) very useful old thread. I'm not sure what amyl-xanthale is (I'll unpark the google-mobile in a second), but I wonder if it is also available to the every-day consumer. Maybe we could make our own "solv-x" ink additive!

 

- N

Edited June 1, 2020 by Paganini

[Arkanabar]

Honestly, I think this is the closest we are ever going to get unless Parker wanted to divulge given that they stopped using it. It would be interesting to hear from an insider at Parker what the history, practical/tested/verified benefit vs. pure marketing. There is enough details when you print that pdf out and read it though, that it does seem there was a real approach at using some science. This patent however seems to be giving their formula for a "a permanent, non-feathering, water-proof, quick-drying ink of satisfactory flow quality for fountain pens, with a focus on alkaline dyes" so I'm not sure it applies to the marketed ideas behind Solv-X like shown in that newspaper ad I copied earlier.

 

This actually sounds like a patent for Parker "51" ink, which (according to Richard Binder) included lye, aniline dyes, amyl xanthate, ammonium metavanadate, corn starch, and clay (Wilkinite). It was almost as alkaline as chlorine bleach. He links to the patent for "51" ink: U.S. Patent No. 1,932,248

 

Incidentally, Mr. Binder also says that the patent for Superchrome is U. S. Patent No. 2528390.

 

51 ink, superchrome, basically the same stuff. Was designed before the 51 pen, then they needed a pen (the 51) that the ink wouldn't eat. 51 development dates to the late 30s.

 

Here's a thread where someone describes finding patent 1,932,248 in a booklet included with a bottle of superchrome: http://www.collectingbanter.com/archive/index.php/t-139180.html

 

On the page linked above, Mr. Binder also describes important differences between "51" and Superchrome inks. Superchrome inks used copper-bearing dyes that absolutely destroyed latex rubber (as in sacs), which they did their best to chemically mitigate. But they were left with the problem of a highly alkaline pH of 11, that (among other things) corroded the sterling silver breather tubes in Aero-Metric "51"s.

[Dip n Scratch]

Can you get low % Phenol solution in the EU area, specifically the UK?

I re-constituted some NOS Quink that'd partially evaporated. There wasn't that smell present, so I assume the phenol has also evaporated as the label specifically says solv-x. I can usefully add to other inks maybe? I lost most of a bottle of Raduga Purple to SITB one time.

[welch]

Incidentally, I tried a bottle of Superchrome Turquoise Blue . It had no Quink-smell. Most of the blue-ness was gone, leaving a gray ink with a slight blue tinge, one that dried instantly and is so waterproof that it survived as the paper disintegrated.

 

(Incidentally, it is astonishing that a thread from 2010 is still useful. EBay price for the later Quink with Solv-X is now up to about $15.)

[Fueller]

Golly, welch!  I could not agree more.  I obtained two old Parker ink bottles - Quink - with boxes that mentioned the solv-x.  I had never heard of any such thing.  Here and wiki were the only places I could learn anything about the stuff.  I just love it.  Thanks to all. 

[adyf]

Love the smell of solv-x, reminds me of my school days from 1973 onwards.