Converter For Sheaffer School Pen?

[Clifford]

Hello all,

 

I picked up this School pen the other day; it came as-is without a converter. Never had a used Sheaffer before and I was curious if the standard Sheaffer converter they sell now still fits these.

 

Thanks,

Cliff

[jar]

A qualified maybe kind. One of the press type converters might. Not sure about any of the piston type converters.

[Ernst Bitterman]

The piston type definitely lodges in the barrel. It can, with care, be gotten out again.... :bonk:

[nxn96]

I'm no Sheaffer expert, but when I've had these pens in the past, it seemed as if they were pretty much "cartridge" pens, in that the barrel was a little too narrow for the converter. I was using the older metal body squeeze converters and not the more current piston models, so I can't speak to that issue. However, given that the converter I was attempting to use in this pen was what Sheaffer produced in that day, my guess is that this was not intended to be used with a converter.

 

Hope this helps.

[swanjun]

I don't have a squeeze-type Sheaffer converter, but the newer piston one that came with my Sheaffer 100 does not fit any of my school pens (and I have a few from different vintages). So probably it won't fit this.

 

However! I have been refilling cleaned-out Sheaffer cartridges with bottled ink and an ink syringe and it works like a dream.

[Clifford]

Thanks everyone, I'll get some cartridges and try refilling them when they run out.

[shadowsforbars]

Just a thought - I am not convinced this is what I would consider to be a 'school' pen. I think the example you have a small step up and is a Skripcert.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Well... high school, anyway:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/takematsu/skripsertad.jpg

[Scribblesoften]

The piston type definitely lodges in the barrel. It can, with care, be gotten out again.... :bonk:

 

The squeeze type definitely lodges in the barrel too. :bonk: Mine spent some time as an eyedropper and is now back to being a cartridge pen.

[bob_hayden]

I have nine of these pens and could not get any of the Sheaffer converters I have into any of them. (I have both screw and squeeze types, but only one color of the squeeze type.) I have heard that some of the very oldest Sheaffer converters will work, but that those were made with a sac that deteriorates with time and so most of those have long since gone into the trash.

 

Note that the Sheaffer cartridge design is unusual in that there is a shoulder or stop in the body that holds the cartridge in place and forces it against the section so that the pen rather than the person punctures the cartridge. The converters I have seen are longer than the cartridges and so would require a shoulder hollow in the middle with space to clear the converter. Also consider that some of these pens were designed before Sheaffer offered converters, and so probably made no allowance for such clearance. (Of course it would have been nice for Sheaffer to make converters that fit these old pens, but perhaps the low price was predicated on their selling lots of cartridges, much as modern computer printers appear to sell at a loss with the profit coming from the sale of ink cartridges.)

 

OTOH I found these photos on the Internet.

 

http://i.imgur.com/yKvhE5e.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/MkFM4Cl.jpg

 

I am not sure if this is yet another version of the converter or perhaps this is a model with a permanent ink fill system that cannot be removed to fit cartridges. This is similar to but not identical to the two colors of squeeze type converters I have seen (color referring to the plastic plug in the business end, black or burgundy). Note that this pen has a letter "S" on the section, something I have never seen on similar cartridge pens.

 

I do not think Sheaffer USA ever called one of their pens the "school pen" so what qualifies is in the eye of the beholder. I avoid using that term as it is too vague and subjective to convey much meaning. Here

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/222972-styles-of-sheaffer-schoolcartridge-pens/

 

you can find a listing (with photos) of just some of the pens sometimes called "Sheaffer school pens". From old ads and my own recollections, the ones that had a very traditional nib and could be found in translucent or transparent plastic at one time cost a dollar and were called the "Sheaffer Dollar Pen". Inflation put a stop to that!-) Then the package just said "Sheaffer cartridge pen" -- by then a phrase that could be applied to most any Sheaffer fountain pen. The rarely seen soft plastic model with a semi-hooded nib cost $1.95. The pens that came only in a hard opaque plastic body with a semi-inlaid nib as shown in the ad above cost $2.95. I do not know if this was a replacement for the soft pens or a third line of inexpensive pens. I would see the softies as inferior to the model that cost half as much making it a hard sell.

 

I parse the ad a bit differently. "Skripsert" was the trade name for the cartridge, not the pen. The ad makes a bit of a fuss over the pen taking cartridges; see the image of inserting one into a pen ("Skripsert" = insert Skrip into your pen). Much as we would like Sheaffer to have named this model, I have never seen evidence they did this. Some call it the "295" after the price.

 

I thank the OP for including a photo so we all know what pen we are talking about!-)

[AnatomyTeacher]

I was given this pen when I was about 12 and I loved using it with blue cartridges. Unfortunately, it does not work now that I am a senior citizen and a collector of fountain pens. Attempts to flush and soak it have failed to bring the pen to a working condition. This was a great pen to write with and I am sad that it is unable to be restored.

[pajaro]

I have fitted a Sheaffer button converter to one of these, and that worked. There are also sat least two Monteverde converters that work, a mini push-pull piston converter and a piston converter with a twist knob. These are narrower than the Sheaffer current converter and shorter.

[bob_hayden]

I was given this pen when I was about 12 and I loved using it with blue cartridges. Unfortunately, it does not work now that I am a senior citizen and a collector of fountain pens. Attempts to flush and soak it have failed to bring the pen to a working condition. This was a great pen to write with and I am sad that it is unable to be restored.

 

I expect an expert will give some advice on cleaning the pen. That is usually not too hard if all that was ever used in it was fountain pen ink. India ink or acrylic paints might be another story;-) In any case, these are easily found on eBay. I recently sold three for $5-15 each. You might do better if you are willing to take a chance on buying from someone who knows nothing about fountain pens but found one at a yard sale. At my peak I owned about 15, all but one bought off eBay, and all worked.

 

By the way, in poking around eBay I found that Sheaffer DID sell a pen that they actually called the "school pen". I saw a photo of same in the original packaging and it was the later pen with a window in the side. A sticker obscures some of what is printed on the package but it appears to locate Sheaffer in Fort Madison, Iowa, so this must have been very early in the life of that model. I owned one of those once and thought it came from England. It seemed more like the post-Iowa pens such as the Javelin.

[Sasha Royale]

Early Sheaffer school pens do not have sufficient space for a converter. Many of them "pre-date" converters. I wonder whether any of the Sheaffer school model will accept a converter. So, you may be condemned to cartridge only. There are worse fates.

[jar]

 

I expect an expert will give some advice on cleaning the pen. That is usually not too hard if all that was ever used in it was fountain pen ink. India ink or acrylic paints might be another story;-) In any case, these are easily found on eBay. I recently sold three for $5-15 each. You might do better if you are willing to take a chance on buying from someone who knows nothing about fountain pens but found one at a yard sale. At my peak I owned about 15, all but one bought off eBay, and all worked.

 

By the way, in poking around eBay I found that Sheaffer DID sell a pen that they actually called the "school pen". I saw a photo of same in the original packaging and it was the later pen with a window in the side. A sticker obscures some of what is printed on the package but it appears to locate Sheaffer in Fort Madison, Iowa, so this must have been very early in the life of that model. I owned one of those once and thought it came from England. It seemed more like the post-Iowa pens such as the Javelin.

It's actually a very late model. About at the end of the line and the pens are really less than desirable.

[bob_hayden]

Early Sheaffer school pens do not have sufficient space for a converter. Many of them "pre-date" converters. I wonder whether any of the Sheaffer school model will accept a converter. So, you may be condemned to cartridge only. There are worse fates.

 

Well actually even if you are restricting "school pen" the the model in the two pictures in this thread other posts here have mentioned three different converters that might work. And the Sheaffer squeeze converters work in many of the other models people refer to as "Sheaffer school pens". I am guessing the fact you refer to -- that the pens were designed before there were Sheaffer converters -- may be the reason in the sense that if a converter was not on their radar they may have only finished the interior of the pen body well enough to clear a cartridge. And they may not ahve felt the need to keep a consistent diameter on the tube coming out of the section as most any diameter would work with the USA Sheaffer cartridges. My experience with dozens of old inexpensive Iowa Sheaffers is that it is somewhat hit or miss what fits what. Common problems are that the pen won't go back together fully with a converter inserted, the converter may fit inside but then gets stuck there (or scratches the plastic in the case of the "demonstrators"), or the converter may fit in the body but the hole is so much bigger than the metal tube sticking out of the section that the converter just falls off. Then we get conflicting opinions here at FPN as people post based on one such pen.

 

Based on a dozen or so of the #2.95 model pictures above, the saueeze and the twist Sheaffer converters do not fit in the body. I have not tried the Sheaffer button converter nor the Monteverde ones.

 

Based on well over a dozen of the pens that sold for a dollar for most of their life, the Sheaffer squeeze converter I tried fits inside all, but sticks in or scratches a few. The more common issue is that the converter just falls off the section. Still, the converter works without issues in a slim majority of those pens.

[bob_hayden]

It's actually a very late model. About at the end of the line and the pens are really less than desirable.

 

 

jar, what did you dislike about it? The one I had was an OK pen, but it just did not have the personality of earlier Sheaffers. I certainly liked it better than the Reaktor, Sheaffer's other attempt to replace the classic dollar pens. I guess I should have included a picture of what pen was given the name "school pen" by Sheaffer so here are two along with two pictures of the Reaktor. Closed it looks like the last of the "dollar pens" with a nice new cap design. Inside section and nib differ. The nib does not have a ball of tipping material at the end. Instead it looks like they cut the sheet metal with a little round paddle on the end and then crimped the sides to fold them under and give the appearance of tipping material (to someone with very poor vision). If you are thinking that would not work, you are absolutely right! These were really awful to write with.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by bob_hayden

[jar]

I think you covered most of the issues. Then there was the stupid opening in the body, sections that were often cross threaded while still in the blister packs, bodies that sometimes came out of the cocoon bent and the horid feel of the sections themselves.

 

Other than that it was junk.

 

I bought a dozen of them thinking they would be great pens to give to kids to introduce them to fountain pens but soon realized I could not in good conscience even give those away.

[Jamesbeat]

 

Note that the Sheaffer cartridge design is unusual in that there is a shoulder or stop in the body that holds the cartridge in place and forces it against the section so that the pen rather than the person punctures the cartridge.

Not as unusual as you might think - a lot of pens that take short international cartridges do this too.

Many pens are designed to hold two cartridges. You drop one cartridge nose-first into the barrel, and then drop another in facing up.

When you screw the barrel onto the section, it forces the cartridge onto the nipple and punctures it.

 

I'm pretty sure the Parker Vector that I had at school did this too, although obviously it only took one cartridge.

I think my 45 also did, but I don't have any cartridges to check.

 

I believe this was a common feature with school pens, because I remember my friend at school showing me this 'trick' and I distinctly remember that his pen took international cartridges.

 

This may seem like an odd thing to remember, but it was significant at the time because it meant that we couldn't lend each other cartridges if one of us ran out of ink

[bob_hayden]

Wow, this is turning into a chat room!

 

Then there was the stupid opening in the body, sections that were often cross threaded while still in the blister packs, bodies that sometimes came out of the cocoon bent and the horid feel of the sections themselves.

 

Oh, so you are saying I got one of the GOOD ones!-) Mine had a nib very similar to the Javelin I have, about which my only complaint is again that it is an OK pen but not a Sheaffer. I think the Javelin came from Japan. It seems to have received good reviews at FPN and elsewhere online. It sounds like the School Pen did not come from Japan, at least based on its quality control record.

 

 

Not as unusual as you might think - a lot of pens that take short international cartridges do this too.
Many pens are designed to hold two cartridges. You drop one cartridge nose-first into the barrel, and then drop another in facing up.
When you screw the barrel onto the section, it forces the cartridge onto the nipple and punctures it.

 

I guess that could happen but what centers the cartridge? I guess you would have to rely on the section. It's not an issue with the Sheaffer because anywhere on the end will do.

 

Perhaps I should have said that the Sheaffer was unusual in that dropping the cartridge into the barrel and screwing in the section to puncture the cartridge was the official way to do things and was illustrated in Sheaffer ads, and it worked in all the Sheaffer cartridges pens I know of taking the classic Sheaffer cartridge, and did not require a second cartridge to work.

 

 

I'm pretty sure the Parker Vector that I had at school did this too, although obviously it only took one cartridge.
I think my 45 also did, but I don't have any cartridges to check.

 

I was curious about that so I checked to see what I have for Parkers. The Vectors seem to be all gone but I tested two Frontiers and a Reflex and those worked as you say. I also tried two Betas and they did NOT. The section screwed all the way in with no resistance and did not puncture the cartridge.

 

 

I believe this was a common feature with school pens, because I remember my friend at school showing me this 'trick' and I distinctly remember that his pen took international cartridges.

This may seem like an odd thing to remember, but it was significant at the time because it meant that we couldn't lend each other cartridges if one of us ran out of ink

 

Actually many people use short international cartridges in Sheaffer pens. Some puncture the flat end (possibly using an awl to start a hole) while others just jam the cartridge onto the section as though the pen was made for it.