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What Kind Of Filling System Employs A Corkscrew?


Madeline

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Lately I've been very intrigued by the following antique fountain pen for sale on ebay--gorgeous but mysterious:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Antique-18k-Rolled-Gold-Fendograph-Fountain-Pen-14k-Nib-Italy/173218336762?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50527%26meid%3D9ffe80eee4094ee4b3580cb4d845f7fb%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D173206864572%26itm%3D173218336762&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850

Not that I can afford this one (I wish I could!) but I would like to understand its filling system. Since seeing it, I've searched FPN and RichardsPen site but I haven't found a diagram that looks like the internal anatomy of this Fendograph fountain pen. Does anyone know how it works? That is, what type of filling system it employs? Does it use an ink sac and how does that relate to the interesting corkscrew apparatus inside of the pen? I could write to its owner but that seems a bit impolite since I probably am not a realistic customer right now. Any thoughts? (Please let me know if posting an ebay link for a technical question is not ok here. Still learning the ropes.)

 

~M

 

 

 

Moderation in everything, including moderation.

--Mark Twain

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It looks like a safety pen, and is likely just filled with an eyedropper. The corkscrewvian extendifying retractor brings the nib in and out.

Edited by Flounder

Latest pen related post @ flounders-mindthots.blogspot.com : vintage Pilot Elite Pocket Pen review

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Okay, I looked at the listing. It doesn't say corkscrew. It says CORK. Which means that it's got some sort of seal or gasket made out of cork. (And which might need to be replaced by a modern gasket....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Yes, as Flounder said, it's a safety pen, which has the nib retracted inside of the barrel when the pen is capped. As you turn the knob on the end of the barrel, the carrier with the nib & feed is propelled up the spiral and out of the barrel. The cork seal is for the shaft of the turning apparatus, and is at the back of the barrel, under the knob.

fpn_1375035941__postcard_swap.png * * * "Don't neglect to write me several times from different places when you may."
-- John Purdue (1863)

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Thank you all so much! I wondered if it might be an eyedropper pen. But the spiral inside of the barrel mystified me (ah, I should not have called it a cork-screw, given that the seal is made of cork--sorry for that confusion). A retractable nib... how cool is that? Though its mechanism seems to take up a lot of space in the barrel.

 

You guys rule! I've been staring at those photos for days trying to fathom what that spiral was for... To find out now it has nothing to do with filling the pen. Thanks for the new leads... I now have much more to investigate... eyedroppers and safety pens and patents of all kinds. Thank you for fielding the questions of this beginner!

 

Moderation in everything, including moderation.

--Mark Twain

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Hi all,

 

My filling system usually requires a corkscrew. ;)

 

 

- Anthony

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I love that kind too! :-O

Moderation in everything, including moderation.

--Mark Twain

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That would be the Swiss Army Fountain Pen.

"A knifeless man is a lifeless man." -- Faroe Islands proverb

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This is a '30s Milan Italian made Fendomatic.....Fend was the German parent company. I have permission from Penboard.de for the picture. Mine is just a tad different in the chasing.

The finial/top of cap is real classy....IMO.

:headsmack: I stand in the live auction, and twist open the cap.....the nib and feed are gone!!!!

:headsmack: Someone must show me to twist the end of the pen, and out comes the nib and feed :blush: .........that was the second Safety Pen I'd seen....I'd seen in a different live auction a MB 1920's Safety Pen, with a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.........mine is just barely superflex......Easy Full Flex.

UPQpECd.jpg

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Thank you for the SO very interesting posts and details. And those photographs, BoBoOlson! How do you like writing with your Fendomatic from Milan? Is it an eyedropper? (Or maybe all safety pens are eyedroppers? I've got a lot to learn...) What a beautiful pen. I am beginning to think there are not enough adjectives for pens like this one. Though I really liked the "Swiss Army" tag! :)

Moderation in everything, including moderation.

--Mark Twain

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Al safety pens are eye droppers, which is why the Sack pens Sheaffer or Waterman and a bit before Conklin took over the market.

 

 

It was only the marketing of later filling systems as status symbols, that pure sac pens lost the market. They were not worse, they were not 'up to date'. Not a status pen.

It took the Pelikan piston pen to drag Soennecken, Kaweco and MB out of cheaper to make sac pens into the Piston age.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Al safety pens are eye droppers, which is why the Sack pens Sheaffer or Waterman and a bit before Conklin took over the market.

 

 

It was only the marketing of later filling systems as status symbols, that pure sac pens lost the market. They were not worse, they were not 'up to date'. Not a status pen.

It took the Pelikan piston pen to drag Soennecken, Kaweco and MB out of cheaper to make sac pens into the Piston age.

Thank you Bo Bo Olson! How do you like writing with your safety pen from Milan? What is the nib like--you mentioned its flexibility... Does that also mean it delivers a lot of feedback? (I'm guessing that Fend did not make its own nibs... or did it?)

Edited by madeline

Moderation in everything, including moderation.

--Mark Twain

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First stage superflex...Easy Full Flex....a step lower than Wet Noodle.

I like it fine, it is a well balanced pen....pretty too. :)

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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