Hooded Nibs

[christof]

Unfortunately I can not ad any information or fact to this very interesting thread. I only can say, I have a weak spot for hooded nibs and the history of desing of these....and of course I can ad a picture of mines:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7495055702_b35a59a8a5_b.jpg

 

Maybe, the hooded nib is the most copyied pen design feature of the years after WWII. This is remarkeable I think.

...and maybe I have to think about adding a Stylomine!

Edited October 1, 2013 by christof

[kpyeoman]

^ Very cool pictures -- thanks for sharing! Uh oh...my collecting gremlin is staring to murmur...

[welch]

Great set, Christof...especially the P51 and Aurora 88. All-time best looking pen design.

[sanyalsoumitra]

Thanks for this informative thread. These are the most copied design in the later Chinese pens. The chronological photo was wonderful.

 

There is another variant of hooded nib, some Chinese manufacturers advertise those pens calling them " Cayman mouth". Which original manufacturer started that design?

[simp]

I found a previous Stylomine patent, FR 750689 (you can find it here: http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-FR-750689.pdf) from 1932, for a "plume pointe", that still having it covered by a "gaine". I have no knowledge of this model being produced, and it's quite different from 303D, but at least it can show that Stylomine did not need to search outside for the idea of an hooded nib.

 

Regards

Simone

[darkizz_89]

Awesome work, it touches deeply that sweet spot for uncommon and hooded nibs!

The really interesting thing, I think, is the long evolutive way of an idea, from patent to patent to a product that still works after decades, and this research shows it well.

Good job!

[sztainbok]

I found a previous Stylomine patent, FR 750689 (you can find it here: http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-FR-750689.pdf) from 1932, for a "plume pointe", that still having it covered by a "gaine". I have no knowledge of this model being produced, and it's quite different from 303D, but at least it can show that Stylomine did not need to search outside for the idea of an hooded nib.

 

Regards

Simone

Great find. Thank you Simone.

Regards,

Victor.

[rwilsonedn]

...

 

While we are returning to an old thread, I should make one quick observation regarding Simone's doubts about French penmakers having any idea what was going on in Janesville, Wisconsin back in 1938. Back then, American penmakers such as Parker and Wahl-Eversharp were the international style-setters in their field. Just as fashion designers in America closely followed what was going on in Paris, penmakers in Europe were watching the USA -- and you can bet that they were going after any inside information they could get. Pilot sent a bunch of spies to the USA right around this era, who posed as tourists in order to get tours of American pen factories.

 

David

 

What a wonderful image. A little neighborhood bar in a small Wisconsin city--rough-planked wooden floor, uncovered tables, many with initials carved in them, an ancient, once-ornate bar dominating one dark end of the room. The babble of conversation is tinged with odd accents, coming from the handful of out-of-towners who always seem to be there, not quite sounding, or dressing, like locals, but waiting the opportunity to buy another round for any guy who looks like he might be a machinist, looks like he might have had one too many already. Once in a long while, a huddled conversation over a tiny, beer-stained table--pencils come out, and in the dim light sketches go onto scrap paper, which always disappears into a pocket. Innovation in action!

And what an irony: you score big, hurry back to New York by train, catch a liner to Paris, only to discover that the idea you uncovered was stolen from your own company a decade ago. Such is life out in the cold.

ron