What Is This "pollkuli"?

[AlaskaInk]

Hi, and thanks for looking.

 

Who, or what, is "POLLKULI"?

 

 

I came across this re-fillable rollerball recently.

 

 

The pen fills with an integral twist knob, and the canted rollerball appears bright red, under light. Based on materials, and style, I'm guessing it dates from the early 1960's. I think this is an engineers tool, and the ball may be ruby. The line approximates a Hi-TEC-C 0.28 rollerball.

 

It is very smooth, I love the canted point, and it's refill ability.

 

It is unique in my experience.

 

Any help?

 

[lallin]

 

Any help?

 

 

The design is very much like vintage Koh-I-Noor and Rotring stylographic pens, with a roller tip rather than the drafting (flat point) or writing (hemispheric point as in Rotring Tintenkuli or late-50s Koh-I-Noor Inkograph model).

Edited February 14, 2013 by lallin

[AlaskaInk]

Thanks, lallin. It's a start!

[rhr]

Who, or what, is "POLLKULI"?

...the canted rollerball appears bright red under light....I'm guessing it dates from the early 1960's.

The name is actually "Rollkuli", and it dates from the early 1950s. It's one of Koh-I-Noor's first ballpoints, sold under the Rotring name, German for "red ring". See the red band on the barrel? And you're right about the red ball. It is made of synthetic ruby. That material was chosen for the ball because it wears a long time, like a watch jewel, and like the first so-called "diamond-pointed" nibs, but it's also very smooth and slippery when wet with ink, and it makes the pen skip a lot, and makes it a terrible writer. I know because I've written with a few.

 

The name is a bit politically incorrect today. The "Roll" part is obviously a reference to the ball point, and "kuli" is the German word for "coolie", or hard worker, or poorly-paid laborer, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coolie?s=t, just one step above a slave. The rolling point was soon replaced with various sizes of stylographic points, and became a drafting instrument, and the name which was seen by many to be demeaning, insensitive, and insulting, was soon replaced with the name "Rapidograph". For a time they also used the name, "Tintenkuli", which is "ink laborer", or "ink slave". The red band was eventually replaced with other primary colors that were color-coded to match the different sizes of the stylo points.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

Edited February 15, 2013 by rhr

[AlaskaInk]

Thanks, George!

[Corp.]

In german, Kuli is not only coolie, but also a short form of "Kugelschreiber" - ballpoint

[longhandwriter]

I have recently acquired some RollKuki pens with boxes and papers. I hope one of our German speaking colleagues with be able to help with a translation of the scans I am posting. I understand, from reading a Widipedia article about Rotring, that the company took its name in the early 1970s from its famous red ring trademark, or Rot Ring in German, and not the other way about. I have a collection of Rollkuli, Tintenkuli and Rapidograph pens, boxes and papers, all from before the 70s and there is no mention of the company being called Rotring, its use was as a famous trademark only, as far as I can see.

[longhandwriter]

Further to my earlier post regarding Roll-KULI pens here are a couple of scans and a picture of an early and late Tinten-Kuli, which translates from the German as ink worker, from the same company. The instructions are from the later model with Chrome cap and as you can see there is no mention of the company being called Rotring - just the trade mark 'Rotring', translated from the German as red ring. Even the factory and location are named but no sign yet of Rotring as the company name.

[AlaskaInk]

Thanks for the follow-up posts, folks.

 

I took some shots for Brad Dowdy's blog and here is the link:

 

http://penaddict.com/blog/2013/2/18/i-get-email-the-roll-kuli-by-rotring

 

I am still amazed at how smooth and fine this instrument writes! By far the smoothest writer of any type I own, and the line is thinner than every other micro ball I've tried.

I use it on occasion just to be amazed. The experience is like fooling oneself with a magic trick!

[TLab3000]

The name is a bit politically incorrect today. The "Roll" part is obviously a reference to the ball point, and "kuli" is the German word for "coolie", or hard worker, or poorly-paid laborer, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coolie?s=t, just one step above a slave. The rolling point was soon replaced with various sizes of stylographic points, and became a drafting instrument, and the name which was seen by many to be demeaning, insensitive, and insulting, was soon replaced with the name "Rapidograph". For a time they also used the name, "Tintenkuli", which is "ink laborer", or "ink slave". The red band was eventually replaced with other primary colors that were color-coded to match the different sizes of the stylo points.

 

I haven't heard the word Kuli with that meaning in ages.

I think, Kuli is simply the short form of "Kugelschreiber". We Germans are pretty good at combining different words and then shorten them in a weird way. "Rollkuli" would then be "Rollkugelschreiber" which means "rolling ball writer".

Also, the word Kuli meaning Kugelschreiber is rather pronounced "Kulli" (with a short "u") while the coolie Kuli is pronounced with a long "u".