Sheaffer cartridge pens (1960s, roughly)

[Nellie]

This is my first review - of a very inexpensive but still great pen. I hope it's legible.

I can't get my scanned review attached - sorry, folks!!

Now I've got it - here it is.

 

edited to give the pens their correct name

Edited February 18, 2007 by Nellie

[Nellie]

Here's the second part - I apologise for the bad quality of the scan!! I should add that the pen writes a very even line at all times - only the scan doesn't show this!!

I should add that if you want to use a converter, the old squeeze-type ones fit but not the new piston-style ones.

.

. . kind of paper - so that you can use it for everything - it always starts right away no matter how long a time you haven't used it for and the nib is also very smooth with a tiny bit of feedback. That's why I really, really like this pen although it's so small. Besides the size and weight is not a problem for me when I post the cap; then the pen feels heavy and long enough for my taste.

I also like it that this pen comes in so many different colours - you can still get all of them on ebay AFAIK - and I particularly like the translucent turquoise of my pen. At the moment I'm trying it out as an eyedropper, and so far it has worked fine.

I've got another one of these pens in opaque red with a fine nib (this one is medium), which is also a very good writer.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and don't mind my chaotic handwriting too much. This is my first review, so I'd appreciate some feedback.

(The first part of this review was written with a mixture of Noodler's Gruene Cactus and Sheaffer Scrip Green.)

Edited January 20, 2008 by The Noble Savage

[MikeLip]

What's really cool about this is that I used those pens in school! I found a few and bought them for the sake of nostalgia and guess what? My daughter is using them in high school! Her friends think they are just too cool and are forever trying to talk her out of them. I'm going to have to get some more to give to these kids!

[Nellie]

Some pictures, also size comparison with Sheaffer Imperial and NoNonsense

[Russ]

I have a Sheaffer pen like this, with a clear red barrel. I like it, yet the feed has a problem I don't know how to correct. When writing, ink collects in the comb, loads up, and finally a drop of ink spills onto the paper. I have tried standing the pen nib end up to allow the ink to work its way back into the cartridge, but once the ink is heavy in the feed it tends to remain.

 

The curious thing about the pen is that the feed is massive given the pen's overall size.

 

I have read of others who reset the feed against the underside of the nib. Is that the correct fix here? If so, how can I do it? I'm wondering if I can heat the section in a pot of warm water and then press the feed closer up under the nib.... ???

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Nellie]

Hi Russ, I'm not sure if resetting the feed helps with a leaking pen - my guess would be it won't. I'd ask this question in the Sheaffer forum as there're lots of people there who know stuff like this. Good luck!!

[johnr55]

Thanks, Nellie, for your review. I grew up with those multicolored Sheaffer pens and still own about a dozen. I loved them then, and still do. I did a review of the last Sheaffer school pen a couple of months ago. Still just a remarkable pen for the money.

[amh210]

I have a Sheaffer pen like this, with a clear red barrel. I like it, yet the feed has a problem I don't know how to correct. When writing, ink collects in the comb, loads up, and finally a drop of ink spills onto the paper. I have tried standing the pen nib end up to allow the ink to work its way back into the cartridge, but once the ink is heavy in the feed it tends to remain.

 

The curious thing about the pen is that the feed is massive given the pen's overall size.

 

I have read of others who reset the feed against the underside of the nib. Is that the correct fix here? If so, how can I do it? I'm wondering if I can heat the section in a pot of warm water and then press the feed closer up under the nib.... ???

 

Any help would be appreciated.

It may not be a feed problem, it may be a cartridge insertion problem. If, for any reason, your cartridge/feed interface bleeds air, you may be getting droplets of ink.

 

Andy

[psfred]

Flush the section very well next time you run out of ink, and sonicate it if you can.

 

Dripping ink is usually a leak, though -- air is getting into the cartridge some other way that through the feed.

 

Good thing is that you can get a replacement for a couple bucks on eBay if that one is non-fixable.

 

I still have a couple of those pens, and still love to write with them, other than the fact that I find the nibs too wide most of the time.

 

Peter

[CD7]

I flip mine for a finer line.

Works great.

[AlejoPlay]

I have a red one and it's one of the best writers I own. I feel bad I don't use it more often.

 

I wouldn't mind getting a few more of these and No Nonsense pens. I have one great No Nonsense that writes like a dream.

[Judybug]

This is a very good review, Nellie. I had one or two like this when I was in college - way back when. Can't seem to find them now. I still have three of the old style NoNonsense pens. They are some of my best writers. I ordered a stub nib from someone who converts NoNonsense nibs to stubs. It's fun to write with -- and an inexpensive way to try out a stub.

 

Judybug

[fatehbajwa]

My school pen is wonderful........love it..............was wondering if I could fit a 18K nib in it?

 

Which one would fit?

[Sailor Kenshin]

Nellie, I love your nice, rounded handwriting. Great review. The old school Sheaffers are pens I love and I will grab any colors I can find.

 

My first one (way back in the old days) was yellow---where that went, no one knows, but I now have a red and a green to take its place.

[Nellie]

Nellie, I love your nice, rounded handwriting. Great review.

Wow, thanks. No one has ever said anything that nice about my handwriting yet! Although, one of my colleagues commented once that the way I write looked nice, more like painting, she thought.

My cartridge/school pen is still going strong (with some help from Univer after a little accident) and I wish I could have used it at school instead of my - sometimes really crappy - Pelikans and Lamys.

[Nabster]

I've got a couple of these too, a transparent green one from "Sheaffer's" with a fine nib and just a clear one from "Sheaffer" with a medium nib. Picked both up at a flea market for $1.25 each, took out the old Skirp carts, cleaned them up, put in some brand new carts and they write wonderfully. Amazing these little cheap ones work so well.

[Chris H]

Is this pen actually called "People's Pen" as is depicted on the picture with the pen still in the packaging?

 

I have one from sometime in the middle to late '60s. One of my first fountain pens. Still works great. Although the medium line it puts down is pretty hefty! Too much for me too use everyday as my writing is pretty tiny.

 

Chris

[GirchyGirchy]

Aren't those things great? I own four of them....three from my Mom and another from a friend, and each one writes perfectly, every time. They never dry up, skip, or take any type of encouragement to start writing on the first stroke.

 

I wish some of my nice pens wrote as well as those things!

[Ceilidh]

I still have mine too. Found them in the back of a desk drawer a few years ago and discovered they still write wonderfully. They brought me back to fountain pens, after years of using the latest and greatest gel rollerball whatevers. The little Sheaffer school pens banished the rollers from my desk. Now I have a few pens that are more more highly regarded in fountain pen circles, and they are wonderful too. But I still love my school pens, and I almost always have one with me. The one I've been carrying lately is full of Turquoise, in memory of the beautiful Skrip Peacock Blue of my schooldays. My Parkers and Watermans are not at all embarrassed to be seen with the little Sheaffers.