Swan Leverless Cleaning

April 9, 2016

I recently bought a Mabie Todd with the leverless filling system. I've done a little reading about this system and basically understand how it works.

But I went to do my first cleaning out of ink and with all the required twist a little, twist the other way a little, wring out a few drops of inky water....... repeat endlessly. I had to think, "am I doing this right?" There must be some easier step that I'm missing.

So, is this whats required to clean this baby? I've had a lot of different pens with a lot of different filing systems, but this has to be the slowest.

April 9, 2016

WHich type of leverless is your pen? There are two types: the early one, patented in 1932 with a twist bar and the posrtt-war type that used a pressure bar as use din buttonm fillers.

From what you have written, my guess is that it is a twist bar type. Very often with these, somebody who does not understand them has rebuilt the pen - the rule is that the absolutely largest sac possible must be crammed into the barrel. When this is done correctly there should be no problem either with filling or flushing

Cob

April 9, 2016

It has a knurled knob at the end of the barrel. It only twists about 1/2 of a revolution. The twisting action is rather stiff. Just above is printed "patent applied for"

April 9, 2016

Here are some pictures

April 9, 2016

That's a pressure bar leverless.

You could try applying a SMALL amount of lubricant to the thread - I use silcone grease on the end of a probe. Oil is bad news for rubber sacs...

I should add that I have seen twist bar leverless pens - perhaps just one - with that type of knob; I think that they are very rare,

C.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Cob

April 9, 2016

Thank you Cob, thank you very much. I happen to have some silicone grease

April 10, 2016

Cob - do you have any pictures/diagrams that you could share showing how the pressure bar leverless works? Or pictures/diagrams comparing the pressure bar to the twist bar leverless?

April 10, 2016

Cob - do you have any pictures/diagrams that you could share showing how the pressure bar leverless works? Or pictures/diagrams comparing the pressure bar to the twist bar leverless?

Your wish is my command!

I have taken the liberty of scanning a couple of pages from the invaluable The Pen Repair Manual by Jim Marshall and Dr Laurence Oldfield. They should provide a basic understanding of how these pens work

The pressure bar model shown is an inetresting example: I have never seen one with a square-topped cap as shown.

Rgds

Cob